Western Diplomat to Asharq Al-Awsat: Lebanon Faces ‘Existential Threat’

A man works in a jewelry store where an Arabic sign reads, "We buy gold and pay in dollars," in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A man works in a jewelry store where an Arabic sign reads, "We buy gold and pay in dollars," in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Western Diplomat to Asharq Al-Awsat: Lebanon Faces ‘Existential Threat’

A man works in a jewelry store where an Arabic sign reads, "We buy gold and pay in dollars," in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A man works in a jewelry store where an Arabic sign reads, "We buy gold and pay in dollars," in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanon faces an “existential threat” over its economic and financial crisis, European diplomats in New York and Washington have warned.

“Lebanon is so dear to our hearts,” one diplomat told Asharq Al-Awsat in remarks published on Saturday.

European countries have strong historic relations with it, he said.

But “the ball is now in Lebanon’s court,” said the diplomat about the country’s need to enact reforms if it needs external funding, which includes pledges made by donors at the CEDRE conference in Paris in 2018.

Lebanon is mired in its worst ever economic crisis, marked by an unprecedented plunge of its currency. The financial meltdown has thrown its people into a frantic search for dollars.

Asked about UN peacekeepers south of the Litani river, the diplomat revealed that discussions are underway to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another year.

On US efforts to change UNIFIL’s rules of engagement, he said: “Some of our partners want to make it more active in relation to Hezbollah and other actors.”

“But I don’t think we will do that,” he said. “We will inform our partners (the US) that if they were unhappy with the French, Spanish and Italians missions (operating within UNIFIL), then come and do it yourselves.”

UNIFIL is a peacekeeping operation rather than an enforcement mission, said the diplomat.

Set up in 1978, UNIFIL was beefed up after a month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 and tasked with guaranteeing a ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from a demilitarized zone on the border.



Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar sl-Assad as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the “young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

“What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. “God willing, he will overcome them.”

He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: “Now they feel victory, the Americans, the Zionist regime and those who accompanied them.”

Iran and its armed proxies in the region have suffered a series of major setbacks over the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last month.

Khamenei denied that such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their own beliefs and that Tehran did not depend on them. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he said.