AP Photo

In the political culture of Lebanon, usually recognized for its maze-like complexity, the alliance between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah armed group and the predominantly Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) stand as an even further oddity. FPM is a political formation revolving around the former Lebanese Army commander Michel Aoun, with accountability, transparency, and the creation of a state of institutions as its announced goals. Hezbollah, in demonstrable fact, is the actual negation of all these goals - engaging as a non-state armed actor in internal and external use of force and coercion, with absolute opacity, no accountability, and creating its own structures parallel to national institutions, all at their detriment. Yet repeatedly, in instances during which...