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Beirut
A century ago, on September 1, 1920, a French general, Henri Gouraud, stood on the porch of a Beirut palace surrounded by local politicians and religious leaders and declared the State of Greater Lebanon, the forerunner of the modern state of Lebanon. .
Current French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Lebanon to mark the occasion, 100 years later, the same day that Mustapha Adib takes office as the nation’s new prime minister. But the mood couldn’t be more somber.
Lebanon has been affected by a series of catastrophes, including a financial crisis. On August 4, a massive explosion in the port of Beirut killed at least 190 people and injured thousands, the culmination of decades of accumulated crises, endemic corruption and mismanagement by an entrenched ruling class.
Faced with possible bankruptcy and total collapse, many Lebanese are celebrating the centennial with the feeling that their experiment as a nation has failed and questioning their willingness to remain in the crisis-ravaged country.
“I am 53 years old and I do not feel that I have had a stable year in this country,” said prominent Lebanese writer Alexandre Najjar.
Like others of his generation, Najjar lived through the civil war of 1975-1990, when the name Beirut became synonymous with hostages, car bombings and mayhem.
He was a teenager when Israel invaded Beirut in the summer of 1982, imposing a suffocating siege on the capital for three months, and a young man when Christian militias targeted each other in 1989. When former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a truck massive bomb in Beirut in 2005, Mr. Najjar was in his 30s.
The following year, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in a month-long war. In between, countless other conflicts, episodes of sectarian strife and other disasters plagued generation after generation, sparking waves of Lebanese emigration.
But the Aug. 4 explosion, Najjar says, was the “peak of a failed state,” proof that the authorities cannot even provide basic public security.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Lebanon fell under French rule, beginning in 1920. France ruled for 23 years until the country gained independence as a Lebanese Republic.
Home to 18 different religious sects, it was hailed as a model of pluralism and coexistence. The nation settled on an unwritten sectarian agreement, initially seen as the guarantee of stability, but now seen by many Lebanese as a curse: the president would always be Christian, the Sunni Muslim prime minister, and the speaker of the Shiite Muslim parliament, with other positions. similarly divided. up.
In the 1950s, under the pro-Western presidency of Camille Chamoun, the economy flourished thanks to the tourism boom and cash from oil-rich Arab nations. But his presidency ended with the outbreak of Lebanon’s first civil war in 1958, which lasted for several months and saw American troops land to aid Chamoun.
Lebanon saw its heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the country became a regional hub for the rich and famous who flew in from around the world to play at the Casino Du Liban or to attend concerts in the ancient northeastern city of Baalbek from artists such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, as well as famous Arab singers such as Umm Kalthoum from Egypt and Fairouz from Lebanon.
Turbulent decades
Palestinian militants during this time had begun launching attacks against Israel from Lebanese territory, dividing the Lebanese.
The disaster happened again in 1975, with the start of the 15-year civil war, which finally pitted the Lebanese sects against each other. That conflict killed nearly 150,000 people. Syrian troops entered and Israel invaded twice: once in 1978 and then again in 1982, in an assault that forced the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his fighters to leave Lebanon.
American interests were repeatedly attacked, most notably two bombings against the American embassy and the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 American servicemen, the deadliest attack on the Marines since the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. On the same day, 58 French paratroopers were killed by a second bomber who hit their Beirut facility.
The country also had two assassinated presidents and two prime ministers, in addition to dozens of other politicians, legislators, journalists and activists who were assassinated.
The 1982 invasion of Israel and attacks on the Americans marked the rise of what later became the militant group Hezbollah.
After the civil war ended in 1990, the Iranian-backed Shiite militia was the only one allowed to keep its weapons because it was fighting the Israeli occupying forces in southern Lebanon. When Israel withdrew from the south in 2000, Hezbollah maintained its powerful fighting force, presenting itself as the defender of Lebanon. He fought Israeli forces until a draw in 2006, and tensions remain high along the border.
Sectarian politics
Today, Hezbollah and its allies, led by President Michel Aoun, dominate Lebanese politics and control a majority in parliament.
But the Lebanese are deeply divided over Hezbollah. While many in the Shiite community are fiercely loyal to the group, and many non-Shiites sympathize with its anti-Israel stance, others increasingly see it as an imposition of Iran’s will on the country.
Many civil war-era warlords today head political factions, hold onto positions for themselves or their families, and control powerful local business interests. The factions distribute positions in ministries and public institutions to their followers or open business sectors to them, ensuring their support.
Corruption has skyrocketed in the past two decades, and the system of sectarian-based clientelism has left Lebanon with a crumbling infrastructure, an inflated public sector, and one of the highest debt ratios in the world, at 170% of the total. GDP, led by a ruling class that amassed fortunes. .
Last October, protests broke out across the country over the worsening economy, and the financial juggling act that had been the foundation of Lebanon’s prosperity since 1990 collapsed into the most serious economic crisis in the country’s modern history, exacerbated for the coronavirus pandemic.
“Lebanon is in its worst period in 100 years,” said lawmaker Marwan Hamadeh. “We are in the worst economic, political stage and even with regard to national unity.”
“We are currently occupied by Iran and its missiles,” added Hamadeh, who was seriously injured in an assassination attempt in 2004 that he blames on Hezbollah.
A new prime minister
Following the massive explosion of ports and the subsequent dissolution of the cabinet and the resignation of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab, a new Prime Minister has been appointed. Mustapha Adib, Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany, spoke to reporters shortly after the president appointed him to form a new government, after he garnered 90 votes among lawmakers in the 128-member parliament.
Adib called for a new government to be formed “in record time,” and vowed to accelerate the investigation into the Beirut explosion and implement reforms after winning the backing of major parties in the crisis-stricken country.
Earlier in the palace, Adib told reporters that he will form a cabinet of experts and work with parliament to “steer the country to end the dangerous financial, economic and social drain.”
The rapid consensus around Adib, a little-known diplomat, signaled a sense of urgency on the part of Lebanon’s traditional politicians to try to contain the rapidly worsening economic and financial crisis and show movement ahead of Macron’s visit.
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri walked out of a meeting with President Aoun on Monday and told reporters that his 18-member bloc had backed Adib. He called for the formation of a government of experts “to implement reforms aimed at restoring the world’s confidence in our economy so that we can begin to emerge from this crisis.”
A look to the future
Historian Johnny Mezher says that to solve its problems, Lebanon could start by adopting a law that boosts national identity rather than allegiance to the sect itself and helps ensure that qualifications determine who gets state positions, rather than sectarian connections.
“Religious figures must be prevented from meddling in politics,” he said.
Even after seven decades of Lebanese independence, France still wields a strong influence on the small Mediterranean nation. Two days after the port explosion, with the Lebanese leaders totally absent, Macron visited Beirut and toured one of the most damaged neighborhoods to receive a hero’s welcome, while some chanted “Vive La France.”
More than 60,000 signed a petition to place Lebanon under a French mandate for 10 years, an idea that Macron firmly rejected. “It is up to you to write your story,” he told the crowd.
On his return trip, Macron will plant a tree in Beirut on Tuesday to mark the centenary and meet with Lebanese officials to push them to form a government and enact reforms.
“There is no doubt that we expected the centenary to be different. We did not expect this year to be catastrophic at this level, ”said Najjar, who is a lawyer, poet and author of some 30 books in French, including one that tells the history of Beirut during the 20th century.
“There is still hope,” he said. “We’ve hit rock bottom and things can’t get worse.”
This story was reported by The Associated Press. Zeina Karam contributed from Beirut.
