Jumblatt: Does Iranian Hegemony Recognize Lebanon?

Head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt. (NNA)
Head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt. (NNA)
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Jumblatt: Does Iranian Hegemony Recognize Lebanon?

Head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt. (NNA)
Head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt. (NNA)

Head of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt lamented on Monday that the country has fallen under Iran’s “hegemony”.

Meeting with expatriates, he wondered: “Does Iran recognize the Lebanese entity?”

“This is a central question, because if it does, then we can deal with it. If it does not, then we have come under mandate rule or have become a region without borders,” he remarked.

He noted that when Lebanon was subject to Syria’s hegemony from 1990 to 2000 – the year of the death of its president Hafez Assad – Damascus did not pursue the “elimination of the Lebanese state”.

“It is true that the Syrian regime controlled every security and non-security aspect of Lebanon, but it did not seek to eliminate the Lebanese entity,” he went on to say.

Jumblatt noted how Assad used to say that the Lebanese and Syrians were one people living in two countries, while today, Iran does not want a Lebanese entity.

The former MP acknowledged that he was an ally to Syria at the time, adding that he knew what it may ask of Lebanon and knew when to draw the line.

Addressing the Iranians, he asked: “Do you recognize Lebanon? Or do you have another way to demonstrate this recognition?”



Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
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Israeli Strikes Kill 12 in Lebanon, including 5 Hezbollah Fighters

Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.
Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila, after an Israeli military spokesperson said that Israel would keep troops in several posts in southern Lebanon past the deadline for them to withdraw, February 18, 2025 - Reuters reported.

Heavy Israeli airstrikes killed 12 people, including five Hezbollah fighters, in eastern Lebanon on Tuesday, a security source in Lebanon said, in what Israel said was a warning to the Iran-backed group against trying to re-establish itself.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted training camps used by elite Hezbollah fighters and warehouses it used to store weapons in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon.

The airstrikes were the deadliest on the area since a US-brokered ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel last November. Bachir Khodr, governor of the Bekaa region, said seven of the dead were Syrian nationals.

Israel dealt Hezbollah heavy blows in last year's conflict, killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah along with other commanders and destroying much of its arsenal.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday's strikes sent a "clear message" to Hezbollah, accusing it of planning to rebuild the capability to raid Israel through the elite Radwan force, Reuters reported.

Israel "will respond with maximum force to any attempt at rebuilding", he said. He added that strikes were also a message to the Lebanese government, saying it was responsible for upholding the ceasefire agreement.

There was no immediate public response from Hezbollah or from the Lebanese government to the latest Israeli strikes.

The United States has submitted a proposal to the Lebanese government aimed at securing Hezbollah's disarmament within four months in exchange for Israel halting airstrikes and withdrawing troops from positions they still hold in south Lebanon.

Under the terms of the ceasefire brokered by the US and France, Lebanon's armed forces were to confiscate "all unauthorized arms", beginning in the area south of the Litani River - the zone closest to Israel.