After taking part in killing Syrians Hezbollah condemns attacks against them

Hezbollah condemned the Israeli strikes on Idlib airport, invoking Syria’s sovereignty and the sanctity of its territory, after spending years fighting inside the country alongside Bashar al-Assad’s regime, from Qusayr and Qalamoun to Aleppo, sending thousands of fighters across the border and taking part directly in battles that left death, displacement, and widespread destruction in their wake.

The same party that entered Syria armed and fought in Syrian towns and cities far beyond Lebanon’s borders is now presenting the Israeli strike as a violation of a sovereign state. That principle did not stop its fighters from deploying across Syrian territory for years or from joining the regime’s war against its opponents, but it quickly returned to Hezbollah’s rhetoric once Israel became the foreign force carrying out the intervention.

Israeli strikes remain a violation of Syrian territory. But those who crossed into Syria with weapons, fought its people, and helped besiege towns and displace residents in defense of Assad are in no position to lecture Syrians about sovereignty. Sovereignty cannot be a violation when Israel breaches it and “resistance” when Hezbollah does the same.