Following the blast that devastated a Beirut neighborhood, leaving scores dead, France’s President Emmanuel Macron visited the city, and has since spearheaded an effort to raise funds from other countries to provide humanitarian aid. Macron has also stepped into the ensuing political crisis—the country’s prime minister and cabinet, widely blamed for the disaster, have resigned—by trying to encourage the formation of a unity government. Such measures, argues Hanin Ghaddar, will at best prove to be futile, if not downright counterproductive:
First, the Beirut port explosion was not a natural disaster, and should not be treated as such. Therefore, as much as humanitarian aid is vital to help the Lebanese stand back on their feet, accountability is much more significant in the long term, and this is exactly what Lebanese protesters in the streets are calling for. Second, the Lebanese people no longer trust their government, whose incompetence was one of the possible causes of the explosion. Therefore, assistance should not by any means go through government institutions or political organizations and charities.
If Lebanon’s government is asking for international assistance, then it should accept an international investigation. . . . The Lebanese president Michel Aoun has already refused this suggestion, as expected. Not only could an international investigative team hold many in the political establishment accountable, but it could also reveal Hizballah’s control, presence, and storage facilities at the city’s port—even if the group had nothing to do with the 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate stockpiled at the port, . . . where [it] had temporarily stored its missiles since approximately 2008.
The Trump administration should take advantage of this situation. Washington has lately been focused on applying maximum pressure on Iran; therefore, it would make sense to recognize that the horror and tragedy of the Beirut blast presents an opportunity to trim the sails of Iran’s most effective regional proxy, Hizballah.
There are many hard-power reasons for Washington to get more deeply involved in Lebanon right now: to burnish its regional leadership credentials, to beat the Chinese and Russians to it, and to ensure supply lines into Syria. But taking advantage of the moment to give the Lebanese a chance to create a new political system in which Hizballah is cut down to size is certainly high on the list.
Read more on Foreign Policy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/11/lebanon-beirut-needs-transformation-not-another-corrupt-unity-government-france-macron/