Fears of Lebanon being drawn into the region’s wars penetrate a “services” legislative session of Parliament

Fears of Lebanon being drawn into any war that could break out in the region penetrated a legislative session of the Lebanese Parliament, which discussed 31 items, mostly of a financial, service, and economic nature, amid the Lebanese Forces’ rejection of bilateral dialogues pushed for by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in an attempt to find a solution to the outstanding political crisis and the interruption of direct communication between Hezbollah and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun since the renewal of the war last March.

Although the session's items were mostly technical in nature, the security and military file, against the backdrop of fears of war and Hezbollah's involvement in it, was present in the session. At the beginning of the session, the head of the Lebanese Phalange Party, MP Sami Gemayel, said: “Enough with the Presidents of the Republic (Joseph Aoun) and the Government (Nawaf Salam) wasting time with (Hezbollah) by asking for guarantees from it not to enter into a new support war; Because the response came directly from the Speaker of the Iranian Shura Council, Muhammad Baqir Qalibaf, who announced that “Lebanon and Iran are on one front in peace and war, and that any Islamic country subjected to an Israeli attack will receive a response from everyone.”

Gemayel called on Berri to “respond to these words,” reminding him that “it is not permissible for any external party to decide for Lebanon on the issues of war and peace.” Berri responded to Gemayel by saying: “We are free, we are free.”

In isolation from the political debates over the Hezbollah file, the House of Representatives approved opening an additional appropriation worth $100 million to pay the dues of the public institutions and administrations of Electricité du Liban. It also approved the military financial cooperation agreement and the monetary support protocol between Lebanon and Turkey.

Attention is turning to the visit by the US envoy to the United Nations, Michael Waltz, to Beirut, on Monday, to meet with President Joseph Aoun. Press information in the past hours revealed “an American tendency to abandon UNIFIL in the south and replace it with a verification committee and adopt the framework agreement as an alternative to Resolution 1701.”