The Lebanese government has approved a US-backed plan to disarm Hezbollah, a move Rania Khalek says is plunging the country into political crisis. “Since last year’s ceasefire, Israel has violated it over 4,000 times, bombing Lebanon, assassinating people, flying constant drones,” she says, noting that the Lebanese army “does not fight Israel” and is now being used to take away the Lebanese people’s only means of defense. The proposal offers “zero guarantees” that Israel will stop its attacks, and Khalek argues it’s part of a US strategy to strip Lebanon of its defenses or stoke instability and civil war. “The only thing standing in the way of Israel occupying southern Lebanon is Hezbollah’s weapons and their willingness to fight.”
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Rania Khalek is a Middle East-based journalist for Breakthrough News. Her work has also appeared at The Grayzone, The intercept, Truthout, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Al Jazeera, The Nation, Salon, AlterNet, Vice and more.
