Lebanon Facing its Destiny: The End of Sovereignty

Follow Kritica on Google

Add Kritica to your favourite sources.

Follow

Beirut – È un Libano stanco, piegato, martoriato e insanguinato quello dove da qualche giorno non cadono più bombe. Dopo il massacro israeliano dell’otto aprile 2026, passato alla storia come il mercoledì nero, che in pochi minuti ha ucciso più di trecento persone, Israele si è detto pronto a colloqui diretti con il presidente libanese Joseph Aoun e il suo primo ministro Nawaf Salam. Dieci giorni di cessate il fuoco, almeno da accordi, ma di fronte all’offerta israeliana di colloqui faccia a faccia, il Libano si scopre più fragile e diviso che mai. Tra il trauma dei civili, il ruolo di Hezbollah e lo spettro di una nuova guerra civile, il Libano cerca una sovranità che sembra svanire tra le macerie e le lacrime delle madri, che sotto le bombe hanno perso i propri figli.

He also treated the injured from Black Wednesday, Elias Jrade, a doctor and independent Maronite deputy. The injured, who numbered in the hundreds that Wednesday, flowed like a raging river into the hospitals of Beirut, which were already out of space and blood.

A massacre that fuelled sectarianism

“We must call things by their name: what happened on Wednesday, April 8th, is a war crime. That day I saw children, women and the elderly massacred. They were in my hands,” declares the deputy, “it is shameful that there are voices, even within Lebanon, seeking to justify it. The offer of direct talks is a strategic move to separate Lebanon's path from regional negotiations (those between Iran and the USA). Lebanon was included in the Gulf area ceasefire, approved by the mediators, but Israel is trying to isolate us. The Lebanese government was not intelligent enough to demand the implementation of that ceasefire, allowing our territory to be treated as a separate entity under Israeli and American domination.”.

After days of relentless shelling, even on areas not controlled by the Hezbollah party-militia, which Israel claims were targeted at specific objectives, discontent and sectarian division are growing in Lebanon.

“We have not built a government capable of building a nation and supporting its people. What we see today is a reflection of deep division in society, crushed by external pressures. We are in the midst of what I would call a “silent World War III” and the idea of exercising complete sovereignty over our decisions, in this chaos, is unfortunately becoming unrealistic,” the deputy continued.

The concrete risk of Lebanon no longer being a sovereign country

Sono centinaia le persone che all’indomani del massacro dell’otto aprile e poco prima dell’incontro a Washington tra tra i rappresentanti israeliani e quelli libanesi, sono scese in piazza a Beirut per protestare contro i negoziati diretti. Tra i sostenitori di Hezbollah cresce, infatti, la paura che i colloqui porteranno alla normalizzazione dell’Employment nel sud del Paese. D’altronde, nel 2024 Israele ha conquistato più territorio durante il cessate il fuoco che in battaglia.

In 2024, Israel has gained more Lebanese territory during the ceasefire than in battle.

According to Jrade, “Israel is demanding direct negotiations precisely because it wants to reach the point where Lebanon is forced to recognise it. There is a section of society that is terrified by the idea of what happened in 2024 repeating itself: an agreement that Israel did not honour, continuing to bomb and occupy the South. However, for me, whether negotiations are direct or indirect is merely a formality. The real issue is not “how”, but from what position of strength one sits at the table.”.

And it is precisely on the terms of the agreement that the country is divided today: some firmly maintain that the solution must come from the immediate disarmament of Hezbollah, while others instead demand guarantees from Israel first, a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from the south of the country.

A country divided also on the subject of Hezbollah

“There are very different, sometimes opposing, positions even regarding Israel,” Christina Foerch Saab, co-founder of, tells us. Fighters for Peace a few days ago in Lebanon, we did a workshop and when people's opinion was asked regarding Israel, some said: ‘We truly believe that Israel is helping us get rid of Hezbollah, and once we are rid of them, they will withdraw from Lebanon and all will be well. We will finally be able to live in Pace‘. This was indeed the position of some participants. There are many different opinions. This creates tension within the country, because on the other side there is of course Hezbollah and its supporters who say: ‘We are the only ones fighting and defending this country, we are giving our blood for the good of Lebanon’.”.

La stragrande maggioranza dei più di un milione di sfollati interni libanesi è sciita e vicina ad Hezbollah. Il partito-milizia negli anni ha infatti costruito un sistema di welfare sociale che ha sostituito lo Stato lì dove era assente. Tra la popolazione del Sud del Libano e dei sobborghi di Dahiyeh le persone sono legate al Partito di Dio non solo perché sono “gli unici a difenderli”, ma anche perché – as Valeria Rando already explained in a report for Kritika, editorial note – they have given them schools, banks, hospitals, ambulances, an infrastructure system that goes far beyond the ideological-religious dimension of the party-militia.

People are tied to the Party of God not only because they are “the only ones to defend them,” but also because they have provided them with schools, banks, hospitals, ambulances, and an infrastructure system that goes far beyond the ideological-religious dimension of the party-militia.

The vision of Violence politica è cambiata

“Come ONG”, continua la donna, “stiamo cercando proattivamente di raggiungere la comunità sciita, le persone del Sud e della valle della Bekaa, dicendo loro che dobbiamo sederci insieme, dobbiamo costruire questo Paese insieme e trovare un terreno comune. Non possiamo continuare così per sempre. Ci proviamo, ma ci sono molti ostacoli. Penso però che la differenza tra oggi e il 1975, almeno da quanto dicono i nostri ex combattenti, sia che quando loro andarono in guerra, non c’era nessuno ad avvertirli. Anzi, la violenza politica era molto più accettata in tutte le sette e i gruppi politici; era vista come un mezzo legittimo per raggiungere un fine Politician. Ora, credo di no: la maggior parte dei gruppi non vuole più usare la violenza, eccetto Hezbollah che ha ancora le armi. Ci sono differenze se paragoni il 1975 ad oggi, perché c’è l’esperienza di ciò che è accaduto allora. C’è la consapevolezza. Ed è su questo che lavoriamo con Fighters for Peace and many other NGOs”.

“Compared to 1975, the view of political violence has changed: now most groups, except Hezbollah, no longer wish to use it.

The memory of the civil war reignites trauma

Eppure in una grande fetta di popolazione che vive a Beirut cresce il malcontento e la paura degli sfollati sciiti. Molti, soprattutto tra la borghesia maronita, vedono negli sfollati un pericolo: “Non sai mai chi c’è tra gli sfollati, se Hezbollah si nasconde tra i civili rende target ”Us too,“ argues Pierre, a former fighter in the Lebanese armed forces, ”if you put military bases or hide Hezbollah people among civilians, then things like Wednesday, April 8th's massacre happen. Hezbollah uses civilians as human shields. The enemy for me, at the moment, is Hezbollah. I can't accept either its ideology or its opinions. They want the destruction of Lebanon to serve Iran.".

Lo incontriamo in occasione del memoriale della guerra civile libanese, scoppiata il 13 aprile del 1975.

“From the end of the civil war to the present day, we have been able to destroy our state, but we have been unable to build anything in its place,” intervenes Ziad, a former fighter alongside Palestinian militias and a member of the Communist Party. “We have never truly closed the chapter on the civil war because no one has paid for what was done. Without accountability, we cannot move forward. I am well aware that negotiations with Israel are not perfect, but we must find a way out. We cannot fight eternally; what we have done so far must serve as a basis for negotiating peace, not for continuing the conflict.”

According to Ziad, “the only way to change things is for Hezbollah to change its rules. They must admit that they are Lebanese before they are Iranian. They must disarm, because disarmament is the prerequisite for trust. Our absolute priority must be to prevent parties from dragging us back into the abyss of civil war.”.

“The only way to change things is for Hezbollah to change its rules. They must admit that they are Lebanese before they are Iranian.

But Hezbollah has been very clear: no agreement with Israel and no disarmament without guarantees.

“It is an illusion to believe that Israel acts for peace”

“Il governo non può andare a negoziare a mani vuote o, peggio, promettendo di disarmare la resistenza. I punti fermi devono essere: ritiro completo degli israeliani da tutto il territorio libanese, nessuna violazione della sovranità del Libano, rilascio degli ostaggi, ritorno degli sfollati e ricostruzione senza pressioni esterne”, continua il deputato maronita Elias Jrade, “solo se queste condizioni sono garantite dai mediatori, la forma del colloquio smetterebbe di essere motivo di disputa tra i libanesi. Se il governo negozia stupidamente senza principi, la gente continuerà a manifestare contro di esso”.

Ma mentre scriviamo il cessate il fuoco è ancora fragile e Israele invita i profughi a non tornare lì dove dice di aver istituito una “linea gialla” che tanto ricorda quella di Gaza. La Linea gialla coincide con il fiume Litani, confine storico delle mire espansionistiche israeliane. 

“It is an illusion to believe that Israel acts for peace. Israel has not respected previous agreements and continues to violate Lebanese sovereignty, killing left and right,” concludes Jrade. “Now, on the one hand, the Lebanese government is asking the regular army not to confront the invasion to avoid escalation, and on the other, it is ordering the disarmament of the resistance that defends the people. Meanwhile, Israel is trying to fuel internal instability and turn the war into a conflict between Lebanese people. But, as we have seen in Gaza, stopping Israel is not just a matter for Hezbollah or the Shiites; it is a matter that concerns all of humanity.’.

© Kritica – Partial reproduction permitted upon courteous request and agreement, citing the source and including a link to the article.

PHOTO CREDITS: © Lidia Ginestra Giuffrida