Israel, Lebanon and resistance: interview with Lebanese socialists

The aftermath of Israel’s attack on Beirut last month (Picture: X/QudsNen)

SW: Israel and Lebanon are set for their first direct negotiations in decades, while the US and Israel demand the disarmament of resistance group Hezbollah. What’s behind these talks and how successful is the disarmament? 

Jean Michel: Currently, Lebanon is still under attack. The south looks like a desert. So our ruling class is at a bit of an impasse where they are not able to justify the disarmament of the Hezbollah resistance group demanded by the US and Israel. 

If you look at disarmament in Palestinian refugee camps, the weapons given up are symbolic. What I saw was an utterly staged transfer of some weapons. It shows that Lebanese president Joseph Aoun is struggling to implement the disarmament. 

The ruling class in Lebanon is very dependent on Western support. There are a lot of ongoing projects from Western NGOs, so that adds pressure. 

This is not the first time Lebanon has had official discussions with Israel. In 2019 there were negotiations with Israel—but now we are here. It shows that collaboration with Israel is a fatal mistake. 

SW: After the fall of the Assad dictatorship in Syria and Israeli attacks on the Hezbollah leadership, how much weaker is the resistance group?

Jean Michel: Hezbollah definitely took a blow, but still has capacity to show some force. I think Hezbollah has taken a strategic decision too. The longer the Israelis keep attacking the south, the more people are pushed away from disarming Hezbollah. 

Effectively, the past few months have been only attacks on Lebanese land with barely any justification by Israel. 

So it might be a choice not to retaliate—that’s how I’m seeing it—to show that Hezbollah is not the problem. 

SW: Are there spaces for other types of resistance?

Jean Michel: I think the people were smashed in 2019 with the very big economic collapse. And there was a big wave of migration of the younger generation who went to Europe, the Gulf states or the US to make some money.

But there are the possibilities to organise. Lebanon is still running because it’s very community-based, everyone’s there for everyone. 

Any attempt to rebuild life is really a grassroots initiative and this could push a new movement from below. Last week, for example, there was a spontaneous demonstration in solidarity with the people living in the south in the middle of the capital Beirut. 

It was not called by any organisation—it was from people just sharing around screenshots. 

The state is cracking down on the refugees, Syrians and Palestinians, saying that they are flooding the schools and overwhelming the state. But there are people standing with the refugees, so there is an opportunity to organise here.

And solidarity with Palestine is not to be questioned, especially in the younger generation, but there isn’t generally a syriamovement. 

Another point is that the internal security forces are partly a part of the working class today. After 2019, some in the army earn as little as $40 a month so they work part-time in, for example, delivery jobs. 

We need a few people to try and agitate. In my view, this situation can easily push people towards a mass movement because the sense of solidarity is strong.

SW: Why has Israel continually attacked Lebanon despite the ceasefire? 

Simon: Israel is essentially going for broke—it needs to complete its mission. It’s focusing on the south in an attempt to stop the rebuilding of Lebanon. 

Jean Michel: As Simon said, they’re attacking any form of attempt to rebuild the south—whether it’s engineers, architects, constructors, equipment, farmers.

SW: There are wider shifts in the Middle East with the ceasefire in Gaza and Donald Trump building ties with the new Syrian regime and Gulf States. What are the implications? 

Simon: When we look at states in the region separately, we miss stuff. But look at what happened in Morocco—the “Gen Z rebellion” suddenly running out of control. 

Then you have Tunisia—demonstrations that began over chemical poisoning which turn basically almost into mass mobilisations. 

We have to think a little bit about the limits of the regime in Syria. The country’s too weak, it’s been bombed, it’s been ripped apart, it needs to be rebuilt—so many say Mohammed al-Sharra’s new regime is just being pragmatic by working with the US. 

But not everyone buys it. There was a big demonstration in Hama, and there’s still a lot of tension.

The situation is very precarious and very dangerous. Israel has got victories, but now the Americans are saying to the Israelis, “Don’t blow it—we have a chance here to get in with Syria.” 

But the Israelis obviously have a different agenda. They want demilitarisation of Syria so they’re pushing red lines.