Lebanese patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi wants talks with Hezbollah

Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, Lebanon’s most important Christian cleric, convened a meeting with Iran-backed political and paramilitary group Hezbollah while urging neutrality in regional conflicts to save the chaos from the besieged country. .

“I claim that there has been no sincere and clear position on Hezbollah’s neutrality,” Al-Rahi told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble in Beirut. “And I’m waiting and I invite you to a meeting here where we talk about neutrality and all its aspects, because neutrality is in the interest of all Lebanese and the first Hezbollah. Because they are also Lebanese. In the interest of all.”

Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim Hezbollah remains the country’s most powerful political party and militant group. Acting as Iran’s representative, many Lebanese and foreign governments have accused him of provoking sectarian tensions and bringing violence to Lebanon.

The small Mediterranean country of 6 million has been affected by the expanding crisis and increasing poverty since the end of 2019 due to financial collapse, poor economic management and government corruption. Its feudal sectarian leaders have failed to form a government, leaving the country without effective leadership since its last prime minister ceased after a deadly blast in August 2020 shattered the capital Beirut, killing hundreds and displacing them. not thousands.

Many Lebanese say that the scale of the current crisis, which has seen the country’s currency lose almost all its value, is much worse than the bloody Lebanon civil war of 1975-1990 and the coronavirus pandemic, which has overflowing your healthcare system, is the least of your worries.

While opponents of Hezbollah often describe the country as a hostage to the group, they also acknowledge that confronting the heavily armed organization, which also controls Beirut’s port and airport, could lead to a return to arms and the renewal of the civil war.

And Hezbollah, whose allegiance to Tehran instead of the Lebanese constitution, represents a large part of Lebanon’s Shiite community.

“I have not yet heard directly from Hezbollah whether it is against or with neutrality,” the patriarch said. “If you say ‘I’m against’, I ask you if you’re against Lebanon’s sovereignty, don’t you want Lebanon to be a sovereign state in its territory? If it’s true that you don’t want neutrality, you won’t” I don’t want Lebanon fulfills its role “.

“Lebanon was (the) Switzerland of the Middle East – today is hell, as the president once said,” Al-Rahi said. “That’s not something we can be proud of. That’s why we’re so sorry.”

The patriarch spoke of a “mutual defense strategy” proposed by previous presidents but which never materialized; something that would have boosted the Lebanese state’s unified foreign policy actions rather than sectarian groups.

“Hezbollah should not remain free to use weapons whenever and wherever it wants,” he said. “And it should not be able to decide wars in Israel, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, without taking into account the government, the president and the parliament. Therefore, the idea of ​​the strategy of mutual defense but was not carried out. ”

“Hezbollah, like the army or any other army in the world, has no right to make a decision or decide to go to war or peace, it is the state that decides,” he added.

“But the cause of Hezbollah and weapons is much bigger than Lebanon and needs to be addressed internationally.”

The patriarch added that he had met with the group once before, but “we discussed issues that have nothing to do with guns, because that is something beyond us.”

When regional powers disagree, Lebanon is caught in the crosshairs. This came in 2005, when then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a plot believed to be the work of Hezbollah and the Syrian government.

Lebanon has long been the ground for power struggles of the major powers under regional influence. It houses 18 different religious communities thanks to the arbitrary drawing of borders by French generals, who established the state in 1926.

Its single consensus government, designed to deal with a diverse population, is based on a power-sharing structure through which the prime minister, president and president of the house must come from the three most important religious groups in the country: Sunnis, Maronite Christians and Shiites, respectively. Regional powers, therefore, often exert influence in the country through these various groups.

The patriarch described Lebanon as having asked the U.S. “that Lebanon should not be a bargaining chip between the U.S. and Iran when they want to resolve the nuclear issue,” referring to Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.

“The issue of arms should also be addressed with Iran because Iran is the source,” he added, calling directly on Iran. “And it is well known that Hezbollah (is) an Iranian military force in Lebanon to fight Israel. Why should they fight Israel from Lebanon, if you want to fight Israel why do you want to use Lebanese territory?”

Hezbollah and Israel went to war in 2006 in a 34-day conflict that saw Israeli forces launch an offensive against Lebanon in response to Hezbollah rocket attacks and the killing of Israeli soldiers. Since then, there have been strikes and murders back and forth.

“We want an international conference and we also want the security council to take resolutions on the issue of weapons and militias in Lebanon. And on the issue of Lebanon extending its sovereignty throughout Lebanese territory., ” Al-Rahi said. His call for a UN-sponsored international conference has been criticized by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who previously argued it would allow outside interference.

The issue of Lebanon’s sovereignty over its entire territory, raised at the United Nations in previous resolutions, should be addressed at the multilateral level, the patriarch stressed – “not at the Lebanese internal level”.