The future of Lebanon, which has been unstable for many years, is uncertain again. According to experts, changes such as a new prime minister, the end of fighting with Hezbollah, and Iran’s reduced power can help the country overcome its hardest period. The economy and government stability in Lebanon are both in poor shape, slowing down the country’s recovery.
The Lebanese government, Hezbollah, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and different international parties may play or have played major parts in helping Lebanon rebuild after the war. The nation established itself as a democracy soon after World War II, and political roles were mostly shaped and decided by religious background. One of the nation’s original agreements grants top leadership to the three main religious groups in every government.
The Speaker of Parliament is always a Shia Muslim, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the president a Maronite Christian. The president is chosen by Parliament and will then work with the legislators to pick the prime minister. The government’s highest executive body, the cabinet, is then formed by the two.
What is the conflict between Lebanon and Israel?
The two nations’ conflict is largely driven by the Palestinian problem. When Lebanon welcomed more than 100,000 Palestinian refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948, fierce feelings between the countries flared up. Despite those refugees and the groups from Lebanon working for their freedom, that conflict has only escalated as the years have gone by.
The latest Israeli assault, which began on October 1, is aimed at moving Hezbollah, a militant and political group supported by Iran, out of its Lebanese bases in the south. After a year of being forced from their homes because of rockets from Hezbollah in the north, Israel hoped to bring back tens of thousands of its residents.
What is the level of cruelty of Israel in Lebanon?
The invasion’s expenditures are rapidly increasing. Israel has bombarded Beirut, the capital, and its southern suburbs numerous times and has forced more than a million people out of dozens of communities in southern Lebanon, out of a total population of six million. In the last year, almost 2,000 Lebanese have been killed, the majority within the last month. Hezbollah attacks and recent ground operations have killed forty-three Israeli troops and twenty-eight Israeli civilians in the last year.
Despite pledging a quick and controlled operation in Lebanon, officials from the United States now urge Israel against a growing role in the conflict. Given the increasing hostility between Israel and Iran, the nation’s strike has brought worries of a larger conflict. It is necessary to go back decades in time to correctly understand what is happening in Lebanon now.
History of Palestinians who have found refuge in Lebanon
Before the creation of the state of Israel in 1881, European Jews took part in a Zionist settler-colonial project to claim a homeland to escape the anti-Semitic pogroms that had tormented their community in European countries for many years. During the last part of the 19th century, when Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire, European Jews started to move there. Once the empire ended after World War I, Britain managed Palestine, and France managed Lebanon.
When this happened, Britain was running Palestine, and France was in charge of Lebanon. Zionists pleaded with European authorities for a Jewish state in Palestine as more European Jews settled in the region in the face of growing fascism and antisemitic violence on the continent.
The United Nations accepted that request in 1947 and demanded that Palestine be divided into several states. As a result of Arab leaders’ association of Jewish communities with Zionism, tensions between Jewish communities and the Muslim nations in which they resided were already increasing. As a result, several Jewish communities around the region were expelled. In 1948, a full-scale conflict known as the Arab-Israeli War broke out in response to the ethnic cleansing of numerous Palestinian villages and towns by Jewish militias, as well as in defiance of another European colonial ambition.
What is the goal of Israel towards Lebanon?
Israel has attempted to reshape Lebanon to suit its interests over the years, whether via military or political means. It has failed time and time again, and occasionally, as was the case with Hezbollah, its activities have helped to create new enemies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to destroy Lebanon unless it drives out Hezbollah, suggesting that Israel is still eager to try to influence internal Lebanese affairs today.
Although Israel has killed Hezbollah’s commanders and destroyed its weapons supplies, it is unlikely that the organization will be permanently annihilated or substantially damaged, as Israel has implicitly admitted. Furthermore, the current assault and the death and destruction Israel has inflicted on Palestinians have only fueled new fury against Israel’s conduct in Lebanon and around the world. But as of right now, this invasion, like previous military operations, would just increase hostility toward Israel and destabilize Lebanon even more.
What are the Lebanese Armed Forces?
The largest employer and all-volunteer national military service in Lebanon is the Lebanese Armed Forces. According to security analysts, the LAF has not gained much authority because of Lebanon’s extremely fragmented society and political apparatus. They also point out that, before Israel’s 2024 attack on Hezbollah, the LAF was still a relatively small force.
Since the UN Security Council established a demilitarized zone in southern Lebanon in 2006 after Israel’s most recent significant conflict with Hezbollah, the LAF has long had limited resources for traditional defense operations and has prioritized domestic security. However, critics, including Israel, claim that the LAF and UNIFIL failed to drive the group out of southern Lebanon.
Curiosity about the factors behind Lebanon’s ongoing challenges can only be answered by looking back at how the country was shaped by several different major powers, among them the United States, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, Syria, and France, many of which are still involved. Israel has partly influenced Lebanon due to its longtime backing of Hezbollah, which has steadfastly resisted Israel on Iran’s behalf and helped expand pro-Iranian policies among both the government and Shia groups in Lebanon since the 1980s.
Southern Lebanon’s refugee camps became home to many Iranians who opposed the West’s support for Pahlavi, together with Islamists, until the revolution in 1979 that made Ayatollah Khomeini the leader of Iran.
As chair of the agreement’s oversight group, Washington said it is committed to increasing worldwide support for the LAF and to helping Lebanon with its economic recovery and rebuilding. The United States collaborated closely with Saudi Arabia and other countries to break the protracted political impasse and support Lebanon’s new authorities.
