Iran’s attack on Israel in retaliation to Israeli strikes on Sunday on Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, carried several messages.
It was seen as an attempt to reinforce its claim over Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its confrontation with the United States and Israel that it can use in the ongoing negotiations in Pakistan.
It remains to be seen if Iran has succeeded in seizing the initiative in this file and tie Lebanon’s stability to its own negotiations with the US, or if the attack deepened the Lebanese state’s drive to separate the Lebanese file from the Islamabad talks and further pursue the US-sponsored negotiations with Israel.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun openly slammed Iran last week for using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” in its negotiations with the US and demanded that it cease interfering in its internal affairs. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has been adamant that Lebanon be included in the Pakistan negotiations, putting it at odds with the Lebanese state.
Head of the Saydet El Jabal Gathering, former MP Fares Souaid noted that since 1969, Lebanon has witnessed several conflicts between foreign powers over usurping the country’s independent decision-making and holding negotiations on its behalf with or without consulting it.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization tried to do so decades ago, then it was followed by the Syrian regime, under Hafez al-Assad, that imposed hegemony over Lebanon for several years and now, the country finds itself in the Iranian sphere of influence, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“The Lebanese state, represented by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, has now succeeded in reclaiming the initiative for the first time since 1969,” Souaid added.
This has been achieved with evident US support after Washington realized the importance of separating the Lebanese file from Iran and preventing Tehran from negotiating in its name, he went on to say.
“Iran has been trying to claim that the Lebanese negotiations with Israel are a farce and that Lebanon will be unable to achieve its demands, or impose an Israeli withdrawal without it. Iran has been claiming that it alone will be able to achieve this [for Lebanon], but it will fail,” stressed Souaid.
The Iranian embassy in Beirut posted on its social media an image of two clasped hands, with one covered with the Lebanese flag and the other the Iranian one, and the statement “always with you” in Lebanese dialect.
The post sparked hundreds of comments in support and criticism from users about Iranian and Lebanese interests.
Souaid noted the “sharp division in Lebanon between one camp that wants the country to be a mere bargaining chip for Iran, and another that wants to consolidate the authority of the Lebanese state and its independent decision-making.”
“The state is committed to its independent decision-making, while Iran is trying to usurp it through sparking a war in Lebanon and exploit the Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs as if to say that it alone holds the keys to the solution,” he added.
“Iran will not succeed in reclaiming Lebanon’s decision-making or again impose its authority over the country,” he stressed.
Army commander in Pakistan
Amid the developments, Lebanese army commander Rodolphe Haykal was in Islamabad at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart Asim Munir .
The military has not revealed details about the visit.
An informed source confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that he was visiting at his counterpart’s invitation and that the trip was coordinated with President Aoun.
Pakistan has expressed its readiness to offer assistance to the Lebanese army in terms of its deployment in the South after the Israeli withdrawal, it said, noting that Islamabad enjoys the trust of the Americans, Iranians and the Israelis given its role in the mediation efforts between the US and Iran.
