- 08:00
On January 9, at last, after more than two years of deadlock, a “real” President was elected. A man of integrity and independence, committed to Lebanon and its people. Hopes of reconstruction, development and justice began to take shape.
Then came the end of the 60-day truce—without the government having prepared a Plan B. As a result, Hezbollah seized the opportunity left by the incomplete withdrawal of the Israeli army. “Spontaneously,” the residents of the southern villages insisted on returning to their homes despite the risks. Caught off guard, the political authorities saw the Lebanese army react intelligently, as it has done for years. It escorted the people in order to limit violence. Despite the army’s efforts, 24 people tragically lost their lives.
They were immediately declared “martyrs of the resistance” by the pro-Iranian militia, which exploited the chaos to regain political influence. A triumphant return to the decades-old triad imposed on all Lebanese: “Army, People, Resistance.” So here we are, engaged in a second “liberation” of the South—or at least, that’s how Hezbollah and its allies are presenting it. The goal: to ensure the militia retains its weapons at all costs, despite UN resolutions, in a country emerging from five disastrous years which include a war that Hezbollah lost. This strategy is built on denial. Now, against all logic, anyone who does not believe in victory against Israel is dubbed a traitor.
To drive the message home, hordes of armed young men on motorcycles paraded the streets of the capital—an act of intimidation meant to silence a population skeptical of these successive claims of victory. As usual, without the army’s intervention, these provocations could have escalated into a civil war, the people have had enough of proxy wars.
Meanwhile, the designated Prime Minister struggles to form a government. The “Lebanese farce,” as some diplomats call it, is back in full force, with every political faction scrambling to secure as many ministerial positions as possible to serve its own interests. These recurring episodes have already eroded the international community’s confidence in Lebanon’s ability to pull itself out of its downward spiral. Without confidence, investments will not return, there will be no money to rebuild the country, revive the economy or implement the necessary reforms. The ruins are here to stay for now.
The President cannot fix everything alone. Those whose only political ambition is to obstruct him remain omnipresent. Once again, the hope for better days is slipping away, as if a sinister force is relentlessly tormenting a people who are denied the right to dream.
But as Victor Hugo once said, “There is in the human heart a chord that always vibrates to the thrill of impossible hopes.”
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