Lebanon is buckling – and the West needs to come to its aid

Βy Orna Mizrahi*

The series of explosions that rocked the Lebanese capital on the eve of August 4 is a terrible disaster that has caused numerous casualties, which further intensifies Lebanon’s difficult situation. What was once the Switzerland of the Middle East has become a failed

On the eve of the disaster, Lebanon was already struggling with a trifold crisis: an economic collapse, which made the lives of the country’s residents unbearable (hunger, unemployment, no electricity, collapse of businesses); a political crisis in the face of a paralyzed government, formed in January 2020 by the Hezbollah camp following protesters who took to the streets, but which has failed to provide any solution to the dire situation; and the health crisis in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which contributed to the collapse of the health system and now must struggle with the thousands of injured in the port explosion.

Now more than ever, Lebanon needs external assistance, and only this can help extricate the country from its difficult situation. Israel acted properly by offering humanitarian aid in the wake of the disaster, but salvation will not come from Israel and not only because of the confrontation with Hezbollah. Lebanon needs billions of dollars in aid and profound reforms to change the corrupt political system, to repair the infrastructure and the entire economic system, and now also to rehabilitate the port of Beirut and the entire city.

The United States and Western countries, as well as the Gulf states, which are in no hurry to help Lebanon, must act urgently to find a way to help the Lebanese people, despite Hezbollah’s grip on the regime there, while taking advantage of the organization’s current distress. This will help prevent the complete takeover of Lebanon by Iran and its partners on the Shiite axis.

*Orna Mizrahi is a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies

Source: INSS – The Institute for National Security Studies

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