Pictures of Nasrallah and Hezbollah leaders are spreading on the Airport Road (Nabil Ismail, archive).

Lebanese are weaving countless scenarios about what is expected from Hezbollah and the steps it will take. The first protest, delayed, would have been effective if held on August 8 following the government decision, rather than twenty days later. The protest was awaited to determine its nature and planned course, whether it would remain a democratic expression of free speech rejecting the government decision or slip into confrontations familiar from resistance team demonstrations.

Political sources told Al-Markazia that contacts were made to avoid street confrontations, led by President Nabih Berri, amid information about possible Sunni street movements opposing Shiite ones if the former tried to target the latter. Fearing sectarian clashes and potential army intervention, the protest was postponed. Any such confrontation would not serve Hezbollah, especially if it escalated to clashes with the army, which would mean the party’s inevitable end. All Lebanese, including a large segment of Hezbollah’s environment, stand with the national army, which leadership confirms is more cohesive than ever.

Hezbollah understands that the situation in Lebanon and the region has drastically changed. The new authority will not retract its decisions; yesterday’s allies—Sunnis, Druze, and Christians—are no longer so, and all speak the same language regarding the state’s monopoly on weapons, alongside Syrian and Israeli developments and US support. Hezbollah’s main goal is to slow down the government decision by exerting maximum pressure to freeze its implementation.

The postponement of the protest, sources conclude, is a clear indicator that Hezbollah has begun to grasp the danger of resorting to street tactics and that it is time to move to a new phase; no other choice remains but suicide.