Hezbollah could not stand by without reacting to Emmanuel Macron’s cannon charge. Tuesday, September 29, forty-eight hours after the denunciation by the French President of “Collective betrayal” Lebanese parties and “System of terror” imposed by the pro-Iranian Shiite movement, its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, replied, with the mixture of strategic rigidity and tactical flexibility he is accustomed to.
If he reiterated his support for the French initiative to endow the country of the Cedar with a reforming government, the dignitary in the black turban called for a change of tone and modus operandi. While taking care not to cut ties with Paris, the last major Western capital to maintain an official channel of communication with him, the politico-religious leader denounced the behavior of the Elysee Palace, which he described as “Condescending”.
“We have favorably welcomed the French initiative, but we do not accept that it becomes a tutelage”, Hassan Nasrallah said. If he always said to himself “Ready to dialogue with the French”, he warned that the approach to the Elysee had to change “Otherwise we will not achieve any result.” We refuse that President Emmanuel Macron behaves like the governor of Lebanon ”, insisted the Shiite cleric.
The particularly muscular press conference of the French head of state followed the resignation of the prime minister designate, Mustapha Adib. It was on him that, at the beginning of September, fell the difficult task of forming a new cabinet, to replace that of Hassan Diab, forced to resign by the devastating explosion of August 4, in the port of Beirut, a disaster that worsened the country’s economic collapse.
Descent into hell of the population
Accompanied by the bedside of Lebanon, Emmanuel Macron had given two weeks to the country’s clan chiefs to agree on ” a government mission “. This was to be the first step in a recovery schedule, supposed to stem the descent into hell of the population, which fell to 50% below the poverty line. But Saturday, September 26, the butt of insoluble quarrels over portfolios, including the allocation of the finance ministry demanded by the Shiite Amal party, Mustapha Adib had returned his apron.
A symptomatic blockage of the repolarization of the Lebanese political scene, between the Shiite camp, led by Hezbollah and Amal, and the Sunni camp, defended by the former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, boss of the Current of the Future. “It is not a mission cabinet, but a fait accompli that they were trying to impose on us”, argued Hassan Nasrallah. “We were asked to deliver the country to the club of former prime ministers”, he added, referring to the alliance forged by Saad Hariri with three of his predecessors, which closely scolded Mustapha Adib. But he did not explain the stubbornness of the Shiite duo to control the financial portfolio, contrary to the Constitution and customary rules.
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