Israels new strategy is to prevent civilians from returning home, denounces Lebanese Culture Minister

While there are more than a million displaced people in the country, Ghassan Salameh fears “new waves of displacement towards the north, which will weigh even more on both the state’s finances and the congestion of cities.” According to him, Beirut is already “practically saturated.”

“Israel’s new strategy is to prevent civilians from returning home,” worries Ghassan Salameh, Lebanese Minister of Culture, on Tuesday, March 17 on franceinfo. Lebanon now has over a million displaced people, nearly one in six Lebanese have had to flee since the beginning of the war. The country was drawn into the Middle East war when Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2 to avenge the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed by an Israeli strike in Tehran. Israel announced on Monday “limited ground operations” in the south of the country against Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Minister of Culture observes “a lot of phenomena of compassion, mutual aid” within the shelter centers and throughout the country. He fears not a civil war but rather the continuous rise of pressure with the ground operation announced by Israel, which could lead to new villages being destroyed and more waves of displacement to the north, further burdening both the state’s finances and the congestion of cities.

The Israeli army continued its bombings against Hezbollah on Tuesday morning in the southern suburbs of Beirut. Ghassan Salameh notes that “there are neighborhoods where Hezbollah is dominant and are very frequently targeted. Sometimes strikes hit Hezbollah members who have moved outside these areas,” he analyzes.

Israel persists in demanding the disarmament of Hezbollah from the Lebanese government, a disarmament that “we have partially undertaken in recent months,” admits Ghassan Salameh. The minister explains that Lebanese officials are “discussing ideas” proposed by France to negotiate with Israel “to try to stop the worst.”