‘Lebanon has been dragged into a war’, says former deputy PM

We’re joined by Ghassan Hasbani, a Lebanese MP and the country’s former deputy prime minister.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: What do you think is in store for your country over the coming days?

Ghassan Hasbani: Let’s hope things will end very soon. But there’s a huge amount of uncertainty right now with all the events taking place in the south and the suburbs of Beirut, in the Beqaa Valley. There’s a really unprecedented level of confrontations between the Israeli armed forces and Hezbollah on Lebanese territory.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Do you support that resistance? Hezbollah  trying to push out?

Ghassan Hasbani: From our point of view, from our national political point of view, we have always warned about the existence of a non-state actor – arms – controlling their own decisions outside the state, outside, outside the will of the Lebanese sovereign state and government. Taking risks with people’s lives, with Lebanon’s future, immersing Lebanon into regional wars. And we’re seeing now the results of such a situation that has been left undealt with for so many years.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: So do you feel they have led you down a dark corner?

Ghassan Hasbani: Unfortunately, we’ve warned many times against this situation and we have actually been – Lebanon has been – dragged into a regional conflict that Lebanon could have avoided being in such a situation. Yet it was, in my view, an uncalculated step from Hezbollah that effectively is now hurting all the Lebanese people economically, physically, militarily and in their own safety.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: So is the rest of the country powerless now? I mean, are you just a pawn in a bigger game between Tehran and the ayatollahs and the Israeli government?

Ghassan Hasbani: Yes. Unfortunately, Lebanon is now paralysed. Let’s not forget that Lebanon was already in an economic crisis. There’s no president leading the country. It was already paralysed and now it’s even further paralysed in this regional conflict.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: What do you expect Israel to do as it weighs its response?

Ghassan Hasbani: What we’re seeing now is a potential regional escalation as Israel weighs its response to Iran. Israel continues to bombard Hezbollah in Lebanon. And we are seeing scenes even more aggressive than what we have seen in 2006 – that at the time resulted in a UN Security Council resolution to stop the fighting and remove the arms of all armed non-official and non-sovereign armed forces from Lebanon.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: But what kind of foreign pressure is the Lebanese government under when it comes to how it uses the armed forces? I mean, are they really Lebanese armed forces?

Ghassan Hasbani: We do have Lebanese armed forces who are tasked with the sovereignty and the protection of the sovereignty of Lebanon. However, when Hezbollah made the decision to enter a war, they did not request the permission of anyone. They did not look at the sovereign state and deal with them as a sovereign decision-maker when it comes to war and peace. The Lebanese armed forces are in a situation now where they can see the country has been dragged into a war that they were not party to, the government was not party to, the Lebanese people, were not party to such a decision.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: What’s your message to Benjamin Netanyahu?

Ghassan Hasbani: I cannot see this war continuing. We should all work towards the implementation of 1701 on all sides. 1701 is the UN resolution that in 2006 ended the war, called for the withdrawal of all armed forces that are not Lebanese army from the south of Lebanon to the north of the Litani River – 30km from the Israeli borders. Deployment of Unifil and the Lebanese sovereign armed forces, and the removal of weapons from the hands of all militias in Lebanon.