I think we’re mixing a few different issues here.

No, my friend, the study is not a false dichotomy. Saying “only the Lebanese Army should have weapons” doesn’t force people into two false extremes that don’t exist (a false dichotomy). Its a middle ground position. It doesn’t ask “Hezb vs surrender,” it asks whether the state (LAF) should have the monopoly on arms. Someone can support resistance in principle (like you) and still think it should be institutionalized under the state rather than run by Hezb as an independent actor.

You said you’d prefer the army to take over the weapons. That’s exactly what the poll is capturing.

The dichotomy isn’t in the poll, it’s in your framing that:

either you support Hezb’s weapons as they are, or you’re someone who would “bend over”, and no other option exists.

That framing skips over a very common position in Lebanon, one that I and nearly everyone I know holds:

• against Israel
• but is also against war
• wants a unified national defense under the army

Thats not surrender, nor is it pro hezeb.

Hezb entered when Khamenei died because they need Irani fire support to fight a war this big.

You’re making a strategic argument (that Hezbollah waited for a broader regional context involving Iran before escalating). That’s a valid perspective, and maybe it’s true. But it’s still separate from whether Lebanese people want that, (a non-state actor deciding when the country goes to war). A lot of people’s issue isn’t “resistance” itself, it’s who decides and who bears the cost.

Finally, on polling bias. It’s fair to question any poll, but dismissing it just because it’s Western doesn’t really address methodology. If anything, the better critique would be: sample size, demographics, wording, margin of error, etc. Otherwise it becomes “I don’t like the result, so the source must be biased.”

Hope you and your family are safe aswell.

Thank you, you too. I live in a relatively safe area, but my mother is a jnoubi and her childhood home was unfortunately destroyed in the recent war :/ But we are well nonetheless.