Pillar Security | LEBANON AT BREAKING POINT
Deepening tensions and the direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran are being felt in Lebanon. The rapid escalation between Hezbollah and Israel, and its expansion across much of Lebanese territory, has resulted in mass population displacements, horrific levels of destruction and placed significant strain on state institutions already weakened by the 2019 economic and financial collapse. Entire towns and villages have been destroyed, around 1.2 million people or 20 percent of the population, forcibly displaced, more than 3000 killed and 13,000 injured. Lebanon, already grappling with the after effect of the financial crisis that plunged more than 40 percent of the population into poverty and a two-year political deadlock that has prevented the election of a president, and resulted in heightened societal polarisation and sectarian tensions, is now teetering under the weight of this conflict. The country appears to be sinking deeper into the abyss of its multiple crises, with mounting risks to the very tenure of its socio-political system.
This panel will consider whether out of this crisis, an opportunity for a new Lebanon can emerge. In the short term, what can be done to prevent further military escalation? What role can regional and international actors play in this process and in supporting a positive post conflict day after for Lebanon? What does Lebanon’s leadership need to do to wrest control over the country’s future trajectory and prevent the country and its people from falling further into the abyss?
