Yearbook 2019
Lebanon. It took Lebanon over eight months of
negotiations before a new government could be in place by
the end of January. Admittedly, at the May 2018
parliamentary elections, which was the first in nine years,
the Shiite group received 70 of the Parliament's 128 seats
along with its allies. But since the Lebanese constitution
says that the Prime Minister's post must be held by a Sunni
Muslim, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri could remain. His
party, the Future Movement, had lost more than a third of
its seats in the election. After a month had passed of the
new year, al-Hariri formed a unifying government, where Ali
Hassan continued as finance minister and Gebran Bassil as
foreign minister. For the first time, the Interior Minister
became a woman, Raya al-Hassan. A total of four ministerial
posts of 30 went to women.
According to
CountryAAH, Lebanon's high government debt of the equivalent of SEK
800 million, corruption and failed reforms in community
service led to massive protest demonstrations in October.
The protesters demanded the departure of Prime Minister Saad
al-Hariri, an end to corruption and substandard social
services (for example, healthcare, communications,
electricity and water). The drop that got the goblet over
would have been a government proposal to introduce a tax on
phone calls via the WhatsApp app.
Once the government had agreed on a reform package to
solve the country's economic crisis, it was too late.
Admittedly, the reform package did not entail any increase
in taxes or fees for citizens - instead, the banks,
including the central bank, would contribute $ 3.3 billion
to the budget. In addition, the government and others in the
political leadership would receive halved compensation. But
that wasn't enough. At the end of October, Prime Minister
al-Hariri resigned with the words: "I have reached the end
of the road."
In November, however, al-Hariri still led a transitional
government, though without adequate political information,
such as what the protesters demand, an expert-led
government. The protest movement in Lebanon is reminiscent
of similar movements that are currently taking place around
the world - Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq and Chile - they are all
leaderless and bridging religious and ethnic contradictions.
At the end of December, information came out that former
Lebanese minister Hassan Diab was appointed new prime
minister. President Michel Aoun has asked him to form a
government after the departing Saad al-Hariri, a government
that will probably consist of experts and independent people
- all to save the country's economic disaster.
July 2006. Israel launches war against Lebanon
On July 12, Israel launched a large-scale attack on
Lebanon. The attack had been under planning for 1-2 years
and just needed a pretext to get started. The attack plans
were accelerated due to US plans to attack Iran. Israel and
the United States acknowledged that a North American attack
on Iran will trigger rocket attacks on Israel from
Hezbollah's rocket batteries in Lebanon. These should
therefore be put out of play before an attack by the United
States on Iran.
Therefore, on July 12, Israel sent a unit across the
border to Lebanon. Hezbollah captured 2 of the invading
soldiers and killed five Israeli soldiers who tried to
rescue their comrades. Hezbollah declared that the two
arrested soldiers could be exchanged against Lebanese
political prisoners in Israel. Prison exchanges that have
occasionally been conducted between the two parties since
the 1990s. However, it was blatantly rejected by Israel, who
had a completely different agenda.
(Seymour Hersh: Annals of National Security. Watching
Lebanon (The New Yorker August 21, 2006))
Israel now had its pretext, and launched its planned
attack on Lebanon. It was launched with massive attacks on
southern Lebanon and the capital Beirut. bombed the
country's international airport - for the first time in 10
years. In the discourse of Israel - and in the Western media
- the attack was referred to as a campaign, not as a war,
and the goal as Hezbollah. However, the reality was quite
another. Throughout the 32-day war, Israel used its total
dominion in the air to bomb Lebanon's infrastructure: roads,
bridges, power plants, electricity supplies and large urban
areas. Israel was targeted by killing as many civilians as
possible with bombing of neighborhoods and refugees'
convoys. Managed. About 1100 Lebanese civilians were killed
- in front of 41 civilians killed in Israel.rogue state.
From the beginning of the war, Israel declared openly
that the goal was to crush Hezbollah politically and
militarily. To ensure this, Israel should spend 8-10 days.
Someone had forgotten that Israel tried the same in vain in
1982-2000, while occupying greater or lesser parts of
Lebanon. Throughout the war, Israel and the United States
also reduced this goal and the deadlines continued to grow.
On the last day of the war, Hezbollah fired 250 rockets into
Israel - the highest number in the entire war - and thus
clearly indicated that the organization's attack capability
was unimpeded.
While Hezbollah previously rarely sent Katyuasha rockets
over Israel, after Israel's attack, this became a daily
occurrence with 50-250 daily attacks sending 300,000
Israelis on the run. While Hezbollah had not previously sent
rockets deeper into Israel, the organization now sent
rockets over the port city of Haifa and even further south.
It fell completely behind the Israeli military analysts.
They also realized that Hezbollah was able to hit and lower
several Israeli naval vessels participating in the blockade
of Lebanon.
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