The tone was intended to be soothing, Monday, June 29, after the meeting between the Lebanese foreign minister, Nassif Hitti and the American ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea. The controversy aroused by the remarks made by the diplomat against Hezbollah, heavyweight of Lebanese political life, Tehran's ally and Washington's beast, has ignited the spirits. It revealed ever deeper divisions, against the background of the economic crisis, between those who believe that Lebanon is cornered by the policy of "Maximum pressure" America against Iran, and those who accuse the Lebanese Shiite party of leading the country to a dead end and isolation.
In an interview broadcast Friday evening by Saudi television Al Hadath, the American representative had accused Hezbollah "To prevent any economic solution" in Lebanon and to have "Siphon out billions of dollars that should have gone into government coffers." The following day, a judge in summary proceedings, accusing the diplomat of sowing sedition, decided to forbid the local and foreign media in Lebanon to give the floor, during one year, to Dorothy Shea, under penalty of financial sanctions. Judge Mohamad Mazeh was summoned by the Superior Council of the Magistrature on Tuesday.
American doctrine of "maximum pressure"
Each of these interventions radically divided the Lebanese, according to their political sensitivity. "The intervention of Mme Shea was not diplomatic at all. Does its function give it the right to distribute good and bad points?, questions a political expert who requested anonymity. But the judge’s decision was also inappropriate: it’s up to the government to deal with an ambassador. "
"Corruption and looting since the post-war years have been made with the knowledge and knowledge of Western actors who are now calling for reforms"
If the controversy seems to have died down, it has revealed the explosive climate in which the country is sinking. Tensions are mounting there, on the political chessboard but also in the streets, where sporadic protests are increasingly infiltrated by parties, and where the Lebanese pound is in free fall on the black market. "The controversy this weekend is just a detail. Social stability is in jeopardy: this is the fundamental point. All parties in the Lebanese system are responsible for the disaster. Corruption and looting since the post-war period (in 1990), have been made in full view of Western actors who are calling for reforms today, continues the same source. What is happening in Lebanon is inseparable from the regional context: the standoff between Iran and the United States, always more complicated, and the American decisions on the region, of the Caesar law (sanctioning any “significant support” to the Syrian regime) at “deal of the century”(The plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) "
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