(647) 519-2095 me@jadaoun.com

The UK’s Independent has decided to take a trip to Mleeta in south Lebanon to Hezbollah’s Resistance Museum, aka, Hezbollahland. The article in itself is unremarkable though one sentence did catch my attention:

More than 500,000 people have flocked to Mleeta, 37 miles south-east of Beirut, since it opened in May.

In the first four months of its opening, half a million people have visited the park. In comparison, an average of  280,000 visit the Jeita Grotto annually. Not sure how accurate the Mleeta statistics are, but nevertheless, it is quite intriguing. It seems that Hezbollah has successfully commercialized the Resistance and have deployed a new source of income (I had a feeling that selling Hezbollah-branded merchandise to the US Ambassador and her entourage just wouldn’t cut it).

Twice as many visitors to the Resistance Museum (left) in its first 4 months, in comparison to Jeita Grotto (right) annually.

Twice as many visitors to the Resistance Museum (left) in its first 4 months, in comparison to Jeita Grotto (right) annually.