Caught in between

Even before emerging as a country in the 1940s, Lebanon has had to fight repeatedly for independence and sovereignty. The latest manifestation of this decades-long struggle involves Iran, the United States and Israel. President Joseph Aoun has accused all three of trapping Lebanon in a new war with Israel. Hostilities against Israel have been waged off and on since October 2023 by the Iran-backed Shia movement Hezbollah. In response to the full-scale war mounted on Feb.28 this year on Iran by the US and Israel, Hezbollah fired missiles and armed drones into Israel which occupied and expelled 1.2 million townspeople and villagers from 20 per cent of Lebanon and bombed Beirut, the Beqaa, and elsewhere.

Aoun told the US television network CNN that Tehran is using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in its conflict with Washington and called on Iran to end its interference in Lebanon’s affairs. “This is not your country, it’s ours,” he stated. He castigated Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem “for rejecting the US-mediated ceasefire in the latest conflict and characterising the truce as “capitulation.” Aoun said Qassem “does not represent the Lebanese people.”

A former army general, Aoun has been the 14th president of Lebanon since February 2025. He is Lebanon’s fifth president to come from the military. The first, Fuad Chehab, who served from 1958 to 1964, is regarded by many as Lebanon’s greatest and most respected president.

Aoun’s words were echoed by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam who added, “The Lebanese people were surprised to find that Iran was the very first party to reject the ceasefire; this confirms that this war is not ours and it is not being fought for our sake — but rather on our land and at the expense of our people.”

Lebanon’s 53rd prime minister, Salam comes from a prominent Sunni family whose political involvement long predated independence. His grandfather, Salim Salam, who was Beirut’s representative in the Ottoman parliament in 1912, called for reform of the Ottoman Empire. His uncle, Saeb Salam, fought for Lebanon’s liberation from France and subsequently served four times as prime minister between 1952 and 1973, while his cousin Tammam Salam was prime minister between 2014 and 2016. I interviewed him in his office during that time.

Hezbollah ally Lebanese Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri said a ceasefire should be “full and comprehensive” on land, at sea, and in the air, without conditions and without the destruction or demolition of existing infrastructure and property. Berri said Hezbollah’s withdrawal should coincide simultaneously with Israel’s withdrawal from the territories occupied during the conflict.

These three figures represent the topmost level of the Lebanese government and the three dominant sectarian communities – Maronite Christians and Sunni and Shia Muslims – who constitute the majority of Lebanese. Under the 1943 unwritten National Pact the Lebanese president was always to be a Maronite Catholic Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the assembly speaker a Shia. The power-sharing arrangement for Lebanon was promoted from 1920 by France which secured a League of Nations mandate for Lebanon after the World War I collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It had ruled Lebanon for 402 years, from 1516 until that year and its dismembered territories were seized by Britain (Palestine and Iraq) and France (Lebanon and Syria). France’s aim in Lebanon was to bind the Maronites to mother France and play divide-and-rule to keep the country politically weak and reliant on Paris.

This policy has succeeded all too well. Since independence Lebanon has suffered two civil wars: 1958 and 1975-1990, repeated Israeli incursions, occupation of the south by Israel’s proxy South Lebanon Army (SLA), and Syrian army intervention in mid-1976. Israel mounted a full-scale invasion in 1982 to compel the evacuation to Tunis of Beirut-based Palestinian fighters who had mounted cross-border raids into Israel which was obliged by the US and Europe to withdraw from Lebanon in 1985. In 1989, Saudi Arabia took the lead in negotiations in Taif which ended the civil war. This agreement produced a more equitable power-sharing system and demobilised the SLA and militias other than Hezbollah. Syrian troops and officials were compelled to withdraw in 2005 following the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

In May 2000, Israel pulled out of Lebanon which rebuilt and entered a period of relative ease and prosperity until 2006 when Hezbollah mounted a cross-border raid, launching a 34-day war. Following Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel, Hezbollah opened a second front which escalated into a major Israeli ground invasion and heavy bombardments that culminated in a US-brokered ceasefire in November 2024. After the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on Feb.28 this year, Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel which retaliated with rocket attacks, seized 20 per cent of the south, expelled 1.2 million townspeople and villagers, and laid waste to the area. The June 3 ceasefire agreement is the first step in a process that is meant to secure demilitarisation by Hezbollah militants, full security control south of the Litani River by the Lebanese armed forces, and the restoration of complete sovereignty to the Lebanese state and government rule.

However, Iran and Hezbollah oppose the deal while Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that “the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon has not been fully formulated and is not yet complete.” He added, “Hezbollah opposes it, and therefore, from Israel’s perspective, there is no current agreement.” This suits Netanyahu who rejects the truce and is determined to carry on with the war which is popular in Israel where parliamentary elections must be held before the end of October. Fearing jail time for corruption, Netanyahu is determined to keep his Likud party and himself in power.