Can Syria cope with influx of people displaced by Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon?

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Updated 08 October 2024
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Can Syria cope with influx of people displaced by Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon?

  • Israel’s air and ground offensive has forced more than 100,000 people to flee across the border into war-torn Syria
  • Where once Syrian refugees were fleeing to Lebanon, it is now Syria’s turn to play host to those escaping war

LONDON: In just a week, an intensifying Israeli air and ground offensive in Lebanon has forced more than 100,000 people to flee across the border into Syria, resulting in a stark reversal of fortunes for the two beleaguered neighbors.

Where once Syrian refugees were spilling over the border, escaping violence and hardship for the relative safety of Lebanon, it is now Syria’s turn to play host to a desperate population fleeing war and economic collapse.

Both the Syrian government and civil society have been leading relief efforts. But, after 13 years of civil war, Syria is poorly equipped to adequately support the thousands displaced from Lebanon.

While Syria was an ally of Hezbollah during its 2006 war with Israel, taking in some 250,000 refugees, according to UN figures, more than a decade of fighting and economic calamity has left the country deeply impoverished.




Lebanese customs officers help a woman walk 31 July 2006 at the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria. (AFP/File)

Authorities in Syria estimate that since Sept. 23, more than 200,000 people have arrived at border crossings in Homs, the Damascus countryside, and the coastal governorate Tartous.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reports that around 60 percent of those crossing the border are actually Syrians — among the approximately 1.5 million who had fled to Lebanon after the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s representative in Syria, said those arriving — half of them minors — are “exhausted, scared and in need, arriving in a country that has been suffering from its own crisis and violence for more than 13 years, as well as from economic collapse.”

Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva on Sept. 27, Llosa related the story of one woman who had arrived at the border with the bodies of her two children so she could bury them in their Syrian homeland. She told aid officials that both had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Fearful they may face arrest, conscription, or fall victim to the ongoing violence if they returned to their home country, many Syrians had long preferred to remain in Lebanon despite the country’s economic problems and mounting hostility against their community.




A woman holds her cat in front of a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut. (AP)

However, for those now crossing the border, the rapid escalation between Israel and Hezbollah appears to have eclipsed even these fears.

While communities in Syria welcomed their Lebanese neighbors with open arms back in 2006, treating them as guests rather than as refugees, the picture is very different today. With some 90 percent of the population barely making ends meet, few Syrians have anything to spare.

In 2018, the World Bank reclassified Syria as a low-income country. Its gross domestic product contracted by more than 50 percent between 2010 and 2020 owing to the destruction of infrastructure, the loss of workers and professionals, and the collapse of economic networks.

Nezar Mihoub, head of the Syrian Public Relations Association, said that during the 2006 war, his Damascus-based organization alone “received some 15,000 displaced people from Lebanon.”

He told Arab News: “We had around 50 volunteers who would travel to the Syrian-Lebanese border to receive and transport Lebanese families from the border to the association’s headquarters.

“During that time, thousands of Syrian families from all sects and backgrounds generously opened their homes to Lebanese people and donated goods in abundance. At one point, Syrians even provided free dental and medical care.”

In one instance, a couple who were about to get married and who had a newly furnished home even postponed their wedding to accommodate a displaced Lebanese family, said Mihoub.

“Emotions ran high in 2006, and Syrians genuinely committed to their humanitarian efforts. But today, they are weary from war and the harsh living conditions.

INNUMBERS

• 1,000 People killed in Lebanon in Israeli strikes over the past two weeks.

• 1m+ People uprooted in Lebanon by ongoing Hezbollah-Israel conflict.

“Today, after more than a decade of war, both the Syrian people and government are depleted. The current economic situation makes it impossible for Syrian families to house and feed displaced Lebanese families as they did in 2006.”

He added: “With over 90 percent of the population living below the poverty line and many families relying on remittances from relatives abroad. The country lacks the resources and financial capacity it had in 2006.”

Support from UNHCR is expected to help ease the burden on the Syrian government and civil society groups, who are determined to stand in solidarity with those who have lost their homes in Lebanon.




A protester holds a sign during a demonstration in support of Lebanese people as intense Israeli attacks across Lebanon. (AFP)

Amal, a former Syria-based humanitarian worker whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told Arab News that “with adequate funding for humanitarian organizations and the government, Syria has the capacity to support those displaced from Lebanon.”

Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, posted on X that the UN is appealing for $83 million to “urgently meet the needs” of Lebanon’s displaced people, “including those who have crossed the Syrian border.”

By taking in Lebanese refugees and Syrian returnees, Amal believes Syria itself can benefit from the additional humanitarian relief.

“When the Syrian government assists Lebanon’s displaced people, humanitarian funding will be redirected to support relief efforts in Syria,” she said.

“The situation in the region is undoubtedly tragic, but the scale of the crisis will prompt donors to redirect the flow of funds into Syria, as this is an urgent response. And since funding must correspond to the number of people in need, it should increase accordingly as more individuals enter Syria.”

Local authorities, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, UNHCR, and civil society groups are present at four official border crossings on the Syrian side of the border, including Masnaa in Jdeidat Yabous, west of Damascus, and Arida in Tartous.

Services offered to new arrivals include medical aid, food, water, and blankets, transport to shelter and accommodation, legal advice, and psychological support.

“For the time being, these needs are largely being addressed thanks to relief supplies that we and other partners had in stock, but these will need to be replenished soon,” said UNHCR’s Llosa.




Israeli soldiers fire a tank round from a military position in Kibbutz Snir, along the border between Israel and Syria. (AFP/File)

From Sept. 24 to 29, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent said its mobile clinics provided medical services to 5,074 people who were sick or injured. However, its staff say they have been overwhelmed by the scale of demand.

Local initiatives, such as the Damascus-based charity Mart Group, have stepped in to support relief efforts by distributing bottled water, snacks, and blankets. It has also been giving children wristbands with space to write their parents’ phone numbers in case they get lost.

Marwan Alrez, Mart’s general manager, whose team is stationed at the Masnaa crossing, described chaotic scenes at the border.

“When my team first arrived at the Masnaa border crossing, the first things we noticed were overcrowding, chaos and poor organization, which signaled the gravity of the situation in Lebanon,” he told Arab News.

“All of a sudden, the crossing, which previously handled around 300 travelers per day, is now receiving about 2,000 daily.”

Fortunately, most of the new arrivals have “connections or interests in Syria,” said Alrez. Indeed, while the majority are Syrian returnees, “many of the Lebanese families from South Lebanon have relatives and friends in Syria” with whom they can stay.




Fearful they may face arrest, conscription, or fall victim to the ongoing violence if they returned to their home country, many Syrians had long preferred to remain in Lebanon. (AP)

There have, however, been claims of store holders and border officials ramping up prices and demanding fees in order to profit from the flow of refugees and returnees arriving in Syria from Lebanon.

According to some reports, Syrian returnees had until the end of September been required to pay $100 at the border, while Lebanese arrivals were not asked to present any funds.

“The Syrian refugee who sought shelter in Lebanon only to face further instability now has to pay a fee for the ‘privilege’ of returning to a country that offers no home — only the high probability of arrest and torture,” Syrian activist Douna Haj Ahmad told Arab News.

“The very Syrians who have endured years of war, bombings, and oppression are cast aside, their suffering compounded by this bitter betrayal, while others are welcomed with open arms.”

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Karam Shaar, a senior fellow at the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, clarified that the Syrian regime was not taking $100 from Syrians upon arrival but was in fact exchanging it for the local currency, “giving the equivalent in Syrian pounds.”

However, he told Arab News the $100 paid by Syrians at the border was “exchanged at a rate that is currently lower than the black-market rate, which is considered the fair exchange rate as it’s determined by the powers of supply and demand.”

Whatever the nature of this exchange of funds, Zaher Sahloul, president of the US-based nongovernmental organization MedGlobal, said many Syrian refugees had been left “trapped at the border, unable to pay the $100 exchange fee required to enter Syria.”

In a statement on Sept. 30, he called for “immediate action” to “lift these barriers,” adding that “there are also widespread reports of Syrian refugees in Lebanon being denied access to shelter centers, with many now sleeping on roadsides, exposed to the elements.”

On Sep. 29, the Syrian government announced a one-week suspension of the requirement for Syrian citizens to exchange $100 at border crossings when entering the country.

Officials said the suspension came “in response to the emergency circumstances resulting from the Israeli aggression on Lebanese territories and the subsequent influx of arrivals at the border crossings.”

Shaar of the Newlines Institute believes the alleged preferential treatment of Lebanese arrivals compared to Syrian citizens is partly caused by feelings of “guilt,” saying: “The Syrian regime knows that it should have done much more at least to be aligned with its own rhetoric as part of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ to support ‘Palestinian and Lebanese resistance.’”

The Axis of Resistance is a loose network of Iranian allies and proxies throughout the region opposed to Israel and its Western backers. Although Syria’s Bashar Assad regime is allied with the axis, it has been reluctant to provide material support to Hezbollah or Hamas.

“The Syrian regime is trying to distance itself as much as possible,” said Shaar. “It doesn’t want any military confrontation with Israel, and this has been the case for nearly a year now following the Oct. 7 (Hamas) attacks.”




A group of Syrian workers laugh as they head to the immigration office to flee Lebanon and cross to Syria at Jedeidet Yabus. (AFP/File)

Indeed, with armed opposition groups in control of Syria’s northwest, a Kurdish-led administration backed by 900 US troops in control of the northeast, and an ongoing Daesh insurgency in its eastern and central regions, the Assad regime has barely survived its grinding civil war, owing its success to its now preoccupied Russian, Iranian, and Hezbollah allies.

Although regime-held areas have come under repeated Israeli fire in recent years, most notably the April 1 attack on the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, these strikes have tended to be aimed at Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which uses Syria as a land corridor to deliver weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

It seems likely the Syrian regime will continue to actively avoid direct involvement in the present conflict. But if events escalate any further, engulfing the wider region, it may have little choice in the matter.

 


Trump says Hamas should free all hostages by midday Saturday or ‘let hell break out’

Updated 46 min 17 sec ago
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Trump says Hamas should free all hostages by midday Saturday or ‘let hell break out’

  • Trump said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don’t take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza. He is to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Hamas should release all hostages held by the militant group in Gaza by midday Saturday or he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and “let hell break out.”
Trump cautioned that Israel might want to override him on the issue and said he might speak to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But in a wide-ranging session with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump expressed frustration with the condition of the last group of hostages freed by Hamas and by the announcement by the militant group that it would halt further releases.
“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump said.
He said he wanted the hostages released en masse, instead of a few at a time. “We want ‘em all back.”
Trump also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don’t take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza. He is to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah on Tuesday.
The comments came on a day of some confusion over Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of Gaza once the fighting stops.
He said Palestinians would not have the right of return to the Gaza Strip under his proposal to redevelop the enclave, contradicting his own officials who had suggested Gazans would only be relocated temporarily.
In an excerpt of an interview with Fox News channel’s Bret Baier broadcast on Monday, Trump added that he thought he could make a deal with Jordan and Egypt to take the displaced Palestinians, saying the US gives the two countries “billions and billions of dollars a year.”
Asked if Palestinians would have the right to return to Gaza, Trump said: “No, they wouldn’t because they’re going to have much better housing.”
“I’m talking about building a permanent place for them,” he said, adding it would take years for Gaza to be habitable again.
In a shock announcement on Feb. 4 after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, Trump proposed resettling Gaza’s 2.2 million Palestinians and the US taking control of the seaside enclave, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

IGNITE THE REGION
Trump’s suggestion of Palestinian displacement has been repeatedly rejected by Gaza residents and Arab states, and labeled by rights advocates and the United Nations as a proposal of ethnic cleansing.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Trump’s statement that Palestinians would not be able to return to Gaza was “irresponsible.”
“We affirm that such plans are capable of igniting the region,” he told Reuters on Monday.
Netanyahu, who praised the proposal, suggested Palestinians would be allowed to return. “They can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back. But you have to rebuild Gaza,” he said the day after Trump’s announcement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will depart later this week for his first visit to the Middle East in the office, said on Thursday that Palestinians would have to “live somewhere else in the interim,” during reconstruction, although he declined to explicitly rule out their permanent displacement.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the disparity between Rubio and Trump’s most recent remarks on the plan.
Trump’s comments come as a fragile ceasefire reached last month between Israel and Hamas is at risk of collapse after Hamas announced on Monday it would stop releasing Israeli hostages over alleged Israeli violations of the agreement.
Israel’s Arab neighbors, including Egypt and Jordan, have said any plan to transfer Palestinians from their land would destabilize the region.
Rubio met Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty in Washington on Monday. Egypt’s foreign ministry said Abdelatty told Rubio that Arab countries support Palestinians in rejecting Trump’s plan. Cairo fears Palestinians could be forced across Egypt’s border with Gaza.
Trump said in the Fox News interview that between two and six communities could be built for the Palestinians “a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is.” “I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent,” he said.

 


Dozens of Palestinian families flee Israeli operation in West Bank

Updated 11 February 2025
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Dozens of Palestinian families flee Israeli operation in West Bank

  • The Palestinian foreign ministry accused Israel of applying “the same policy of destruction” in the West Bank as in Gaza

NUR SHAMS, Palestinian Territories: Dozens of Palestinian families fled on Monday from the Nur Shams refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank, as Israel pushed on with a sweeping military operation.
“We hear explosions and bombings as well as bulldozers. It’s a tragedy. They are doing here what they did in Gaza,” said Ahmed Ezza, a resident.
Ahmed Abu Zahra, another resident of the camp which is on the outskirts of Tulkarem, said he was forced to leave his home.
“The (Israeli) army came and we were forced to leave after they started destroying our homes.”
Three Palestinians, including two women and a young man, were killed on Sunday in Nur Shams, the health ministry in the territory said.
Israel said its military police had opened an investigation into the death of one of them, a woman who was eight months pregnant.
It said on Saturday it had launched an operation in Nur Shams, part of a much larger campaign that began in January in Tulkarem and Jenin, which it said had “targeted several terrorists.”
In the streets of Nur Shams camp, under a light rain, residents were fleeing.
An AFP photographer saw dozens of families hastily leaving the camp, while bulldozers carried out large-scale demolitions amid gunfire and explosions.
According to Murad Alyan, from the camp’s popular committee, “more than half of the 13,000 inhabitants have fled out of fear for their lives.”
Since January 21, the Israeli military has been conducting a major operation in the “triangle” of Jenin, Tubas and Tulkarem, where half a million Palestinians live.
Israel says it is targeting “terrorist infrastructure.”
Jenin in particular is a bastion of armed Palestinian militant groups.
“What we are living through is without precedent,” Ahmad Al-Assaad, the governor of Tubas, told AFP.
The Israeli operations “today did not target fighters, but civilians, women and children, and they blew houses to pressure residents into leaving.”
According to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, Israel was pursuing an “all-our war on the Palestinian people.”
“Since the ceasefire began in Gaza, the West Bank has been on fire,” it said in a post on X, referring to the truce agreement that halted the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on January 19.
“The objective of these operations is not security-related, but political,” said Abdallah Kamil, the governor of Tulkarem.
“They destroy everything,” he said of the Israeli military. “They are trying to change the demographics of the region.”
Israel insists that its operations are targeted at Palestinians suspected of preparing attacks against Israeli citizens.
The Palestinian foreign ministry accused Israel of applying “the same policy of destruction” in the West Bank as in Gaza.
Violence has exploded in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
At least 887 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed by the Israeli military or settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
At least 32 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.


Former UK Supreme Court judge claims Israel’s Gaza assault is ‘grossly disproportionate’

Updated 11 February 2025
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Former UK Supreme Court judge claims Israel’s Gaza assault is ‘grossly disproportionate’

  • Jonathan Sumption speaks ahead of publication of his new book

LONDON: Jonathan Sumption, a former UK Supreme Court judge, has described Israel’s military actions in Gaza as “grossly disproportionate,” and added there was “at least an arguable case” that they were genocidal.

Speaking ahead of the release of his new book, “The Challenges of Democracy: And The Rule of Law,” Sumption explained to The Guardian newspaper why he signed a letter last year accusing the UK government of breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.

He said: “I thought — and I still think — that the conduct of Israel in Gaza is grossly disproportionate and there’s at least an arguable case that it’s genocidal. One can’t put it higher than that because genocide depends on intent. That’s quite a difficult thing to establish but I read the provisional decision of the International Court (of Justice) and it seemed to me that they were saying that that was an arguable proposition.

“Given that the obligation of parties to the genocide convention is proactively to prevent it happening and not just to react after the event, I thought that the authors of the letter — and I wasn’t the draftsman — had got a point.”

Israel has denied committing genocide, maintaining that its military operations were acts of self-defense while also rejecting the ICJ’s findings.

Sumption’s book, which is published on Thursday, focuses on perceived threats to democracy, including restrictions on free speech. He expresses concern over how certain opinions, particularly those supporting Palestinian rights, have been suppressed in some countries.

He said: “I think that supporters of the Palestinian cause have had a rough time in a number of European jurisdictions, notably Germany, where there’s been direct — and government — moves to suppress that strand of thought altogether.

“We haven’t got anywhere near as close to things as that … but there’s certainly been a lot of calls for toughness on pro-Palestine demonstrations, which assume, without actually saying, that it’s perfectly obvious that support for Palestine is wrong. I don’t think it’s wrong.”


Syria forces accuse Hezbollah of attacks, sponsoring smuggling at border

Updated 10 February 2025
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Syria forces accuse Hezbollah of attacks, sponsoring smuggling at border

  • Syrian forces clashed with smuggling gangs near the Lebanese border this week
  • Forces raided locations involved in the production and packaging of various drugs

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group has launched attacks on Syrian security forces and is sponsoring cross-border smuggling gangs, the new Syrian authorities said on Monday, according to state media.
Syrian forces clashed with smuggling gangs this week, most of whom were affiliated with Hezbollah, but did not target Lebanese territory, Lt. Col. Moayed Al-Salama said in a statement carried by official news agency SANA.
Hezbollah was allied to former Syrian strongman Bashar Assad, who was toppled by opposition rebels in December.
The new authorities in Damascus launched anti-smuggling operations last week at the Lebanese-Syria border, where the Iranian-backed group holds sway.
“Most smuggling gangs on the Lebanese border are affiliated with the Hezbollah militia, whose presence now poses a threat at the Syrian border because it sponsors drug and weapon smugglers,” Salama was reported as saying.
“We have developed a comprehensive plan to fully control the borders,” said the official, whom SANA described as the commander for the western region in the Border Security Administration.
“We confirm that we did not target the Lebanese interior, despite shelling from the Hezbollah militia reaching our units,” Salama said.
On Saturday, the Lebanese army said it responded to incoming fire from across the Syrian border, two days after the new authorities in Damascus said they had launched operations against smugglers there.
The army did not name those responsible for firing toward Lebanon.
He blamed “the defunct regime” for turning “the Syrian-Lebanese border into corridors for the drug trade in cooperation with the Hezbollah militia, promoting the presence of armed smuggling gangs.”
Operations “were limited to Syrian border villages, targeting the armed smuggling gangs and remnants (of the Assad government) and militias who fought with them,” he added.
Syrian forces seized “farms, warehouses and factories for the production and packaging of hashish and captagon pills,” he said, referring to the potent synthetic drug which Syria mass-produced under Assad.
They also found presses specialized in printing counterfeit currency, he said, as well as as shipments of weapons and drugs that were about to cross in.
Syria shares a 330-kilometer (205-mile) border with Syria, with no official demarcation at several points, making it porous and prone to smuggling.
Assad’s fall in December disrupted Hezbollah’s arms supply lines through the land border with Syria.


Lebanon turns the page with new president and new government

Updated 11 February 2025
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Lebanon turns the page with new president and new government

  • Many are cautiously optimistic, but remain skeptical due to years of corruption, economic hardship, and weak governance
  • For years, Hezbollah dominated Lebanese politics, but has suffered major blows in its war with Israel and since the fall of Assad

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s new government has been met with cautious optimism by its people, who have endured years of political paralysis, economic crisis, and, most recently, a devastating conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

As Beirut’s streets hum with debate, citizens have expressed a mix of hope and skepticism about the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and the chances he can drag Lebanon out of its myriad crises and achieve a modicum of stability.

“We are cautiously optimistic,” was the common refrain of Lebanese who spoke to Arab News. While many remain wary after decades of corruption and mismanagement, some see the appointment of Salam — a former International Court of Justice judge — and his new cabinet as a potential turning point.

The beginning of 2025 has ushered in a transformative moment for Lebanon, as the country emerges from months of Israeli bombardment. After nearly three years without a president, Lebanon now has a new head of state, along with a government tasked with steering the nation through one of its most challenging periods.

Yet, the shadow of past crises looms large. Lebanon remains deeply entangled in political and economic turmoil. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value since 2019, plunging a significant portion of the population into poverty.

From Oct. 8, 2023, until the ceasefire on Nov. 26, 2024, Israeli strikes killed at least 3,960 people across Lebanon and injured more than 16,500. (AN photo by Tarek Ali Ahmad)

Hyperinflation, a banking sector collapse, and widespread unemployment have left millions struggling to afford basic necessities.

Decades of corruption and political deadlock have further exacerbated the crisis. The previous government’s failure to implement crucial economic reforms blocked access to international financial aid, leaving the country reliant on dwindling foreign reserves.

Compounding these issues, the recent war between Hezbollah and Israel inflicted additional devastation. From Oct. 8, 2023, until the ceasefire on Nov. 26, 2024, Israeli strikes killed at least 3,960 people across Lebanon and injured more than 16,500.

Much of the Shiite-majority south lies in ruins, adding to the hardship.

Hyperinflation, a banking sector collapse, and widespread unemployment have left millions in Lebanon struggling to afford basic necessities. (AFP)

Against this backdrop, Salam has outlined a vision of “rescue, reform, and rebuild.”

His priorities include stabilizing the economy, securing international aid, and tackling corruption. His proposed technocratic government aims to regain international trust and unlock much-needed funds from institutions like the International Monetary Fund.

Reconstruction is another urgent priority. Southern Lebanon, where infrastructure suffered extensive damage, requires swift rebuilding. Traditionally, Hezbollah has filled this role through its social programs, but its financial resources have been severely diminished by recent losses.

Infrastructure in southern Lebanon suffered extensive damage due to Israeli attacks. (AN photo by Tarek Ali Ahmad)

Salam has pledged to rebuild trust between citizens and the state, as well as between Lebanon and its Arab neighbors and the broader international community. However, his government’s ability to secure external support is uncertain.

The new US administration has signaled it will not back any Lebanese government that includes Hezbollah. Morgan Ortagus, the US deputy special envoy for Middle East peace, warned that allowing Hezbollah to hold significant power would isolate Lebanon and cut off crucial aid.

Similarly, Gulf states have made their assistance conditional on Lebanon forming a government committed to reform.

The US Embassy in Beirut has welcomed the new government, saying “the Lebanese people deserve a government that will rebuild Lebanese state institutions, fight corruption, and implement needed reforms.”

UN chief Antonio Guterres also welcomed the new government, affirming the international body’s commitment to that country’s “territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence,” a spokesman said Sunday.

“The UN looks forward to working in close partnership with the new government on its priorities, including the consolidation of the cessation of hostilities,” said a statement from spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Morgan Ortagus, the US deputy special envoy for Middle East peace, warned that allowing Hezbollah to hold significant power would isolate Lebanon and cut off crucial aid. (AFP)

Hezbollah and Amal both secured ministries in the new government. However, Hezbollah no longer has veto power or what is referred to as a “blocking third” in the government after its Christian allies, the Free Patriotic Movement, were excluded.

Nevertheless, its ally, the Amal Movement, retains influence. Yassine Jaber, a close associate of Amal leader and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, has been appointed finance minister — one of the most powerful positions in the cabinet.

Despite Hezbollah’s weakened state, its presence remains visible. In Shiite-majority areas, yellow Hezbollah flags flutter alongside Amal banners, marking political territory.

“In Lebanon, territorial marking through flags is a well-established political reality,” Ralph Baydoun, director of InflueAnswers, a strategic communications firm in Beirut, told Arab News.

“The country is demographically divided along sectarian lines, and this division is visibly reinforced by political parties using flags and symbols to mark their areas of influence.”

While Hezbollah no longer has veto power, its ally, the Amal Movement, retains influence with Yassine Jaber, a close associate of Amal leader and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, being appointed finance minister. (Supplied)

Rebuilding will be particularly challenging in southern Lebanon, which bore the brunt of Israeli strikes. In Nabatiyeh, one of the region’s largest cities, much of the center lies in ruins.

In one area visited by Arab News, a sign hanging over piles of rubble reads: “Because of the destruction, Wehbe Clothes has moved to the main street.” The state of the original store suggests it was obliterated beyond recognition.

Despite the devastation, some businesses have reopened.

“What can we do? We need to get back to work in order to live,” said Ali, a shopkeeper in Nabatiyeh who only gave his first name, fearing reprisals from Hezbollah.

“Those who could fix their stores and clean the damage have done so, but as you can see, there’s no one helping us. Not the government, not Hezbollah, no one.”

A sign hanging over piles of rubble in Nabatiyeh reads: “Because of the destruction, Wehbe Clothes has moved to the main street.” The state of the original store suggests it was obliterated beyond recognition. (AN photo by Tarek Ali Ahmad) 

Lebanon’s political stalemate had left the country without a president for over two years until the election of Joseph Aoun on Jan. 9.

That Salam was able to form a government in under a month is a notable achievement in a nation where such processes often drag on for months.

He named his 24 ministers on Feb. 8 after consulting with leaders in a country where power has long been shared according to sectarian quotas. The new government will now prepare for parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.

“I hope this will be a government of reform and salvation,” Salam said in a televised statement moments after his cabinet was announced.

His government will strive to “restore trust between citizens and the state, between Lebanon and its Arab surrounding, and between Lebanon and the international community,” he said.

Salam named his 24 ministers on Feb. 8 after consulting with leaders in a country where power has long been shared according to sectarian quotas. The new government will now prepare for parliamentary elections scheduled for next year. (AFP)

Salam’s cabinet includes five women, among them Tamara Elzein, secretary-general of Lebanon’s National Council for Scientific Research, and Haneen Sayed, a World Bank specialist. Other key appointments include Ghassan Salame, a former UN envoy to Libya.

Before the new government can exercise its powers, however, it needs to draft a ministerial statement that must be submitted to a confidence vote in parliament within 30 days.

For years, Hezbollah dominated Lebanese politics, but suffered major blows in the war with Israel, including the loss of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in a September airstrike on Beirut.

The conflict erupted on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched cross-border attacks in support of Hamas, which was battling Israel in Gaza. Israel responded with heavy air and artillery strikes, escalating into a full-scale conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border.  

The war also drew in regional actors, with Iran supplying Hezbollah and the US supporting Israel. Diplomatic efforts by the UN, France, and Arab states sought de-escalation, while Hezbollah’s military losses, including key commanders, weakened its strategic position.  

A ceasefire was finally brokered on Nov. 26, as Hezbollah, under pressure from Lebanon’s economic crisis and international mediators, agreed to halt attacks in exchange for Israeli de-escalation.

The conflict left Hezbollah militarily weakened, Israel more secure on its northern front, and Lebanon struggling with reconstruction. It also reshaped regional power dynamics, with Hezbollah’s influence reduced.

Another shock came with the Dec. 8 ousting of Bashar Assad in the Syrian Arab Republic, which had long served as Hezbollah’s weapons conduit from Iran.

The weakening of Hezbollah allowed former army chief Aoun, seen as Washington’s preferred candidate, to be elected president, paving the way for Salam’s appointment as prime minister.

For many Lebanese, the future remains uncertain. Their cautious optimism reflects a deep yearning for stability but also an awareness of the obstacles ahead. (AFP)

As Lebanon watches anxiously, its new government faces an uphill battle — implementing long-overdue reforms, overseeing the fragile ceasefire with Israel, and rebuilding a shattered nation.

For many Lebanese, the future remains uncertain. Their cautious optimism reflects a deep yearning for stability but also an awareness of the obstacles ahead.

Whether this government can deliver on its promises remains to be seen, but the stakes for Lebanon’s future could not be higher.