On Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced the resignation of his government. President Michel Aoun will once again be responsible for brokering an agreement on an acceptable replacement.
Unfortunately, the geriatric Aoun is to Lebanon what Nazi collaborator Marshall Philippe Petain was to France: a proud military leader and patriotic nationalist, now turned pathetic puppet of hostile sectarians.
In Lebanon’s case, that hostile force is the Lebanese Hezbollah. Hezbollah holds itself up as a national defense adjunct to the military, but it is actually a sectarian militia. The “Party of God” cares nothing for the national interest and everything for the expansion of Iranian-anchored Shiite theocracy. As Aoun now moves to find a new prime minister, he’ll have Hezbollah’s interests foremost on his mind. That means a new prime minister who refuses to undertake necessary reforms and who instead maintains the status quo.
It’s a recipe for continuing public fury and the rising threat of another civil war.
The need for reform was encapsulated by last Tuesday’s explosion in the Beirut port. Only a truly dysfunctional government would have allowed a factory filled with ammonium nitrate to sit for years alongside so many civilians. But the explosives are just one example of the problem here. Attested by Lebanon’s grave economic crisis, the political class has utterly failed the people. Using government ministries as personal piggy banks, they have plundered the nation’s resources. The tragedy here is that Aoun could now use his power to serve the nation. With his Free Patriotic Movement party’s 18 parliamentary seats, the highest share of any party, he could demand the support of Hezbollah and its ally, Amal, for serious reform. Aoun could dangle the threat of seeing those parties replaced in government absent that support.
The opposite seems to be happening. The president has ruled out an international investigation into the port explosion, likely fearing that any objective inquiry will bring to light endemic corruption. Nor does Aoun’s son-in-law and party leader, Gerbran Bassil, seem interested in listening to the protesters and moving against the rotten top ranks.
In turn, we should expect the next prime minister to be another puppet and the protesters to keep coming onto the streets in increasing numbers and fury.
