Lebanon is “a country in mortal danger”, according to former Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

Under threats of external interference and civil war, the personal representative of the President of the Republic in Lebanon fears “a dislocation”.

Lebanon is “today a country in danger of death“, declared Thursday, November 21 on France Inter, Jean-Yves Le Drian, personal representative of the President of the Republic in Lebanon. “This country is in distress because of external interference, a place of confrontation between Iran and Israel, and because of its disunity”analyzes the former Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Jean-Yves Le Drian is worried about the “dislocation” of the country under Israeli bombardment with “ongoing population movements.” “The population of the South, mainly Shiite, is moving towards Beirut. There are internal tensions which are manifesting and we must prevent these tensions from transforming into military clashes”warns the former minister who has visited Beirut several times in recent weeks, questioned about a possible threat of civil war in the country.

He proposes “three basic principles”: “One, the population of northern Israel must be able to acquire its security. Two, we must nevertheless preserve the integrity of Lebanon. Which means, three, respecting all the communities of this country, that means finding the means to have a secure border”. Jean-Yves Le Drian “wish” that a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah could “achieve”, “before Trump arrives”.

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs is more pessimistic, however, about a ceasefire in Gaza. “We are gone into perpetual war”, he laments. “In Gaza, the kind of collective punishment becomes intolerable”adds the former minister, very critical of Benjamin Netanyahu locked in a “logic of war”. “Nothing seems to be able to stop” the Israeli Prime Minister, worries Jean-Yves Le Drian, “and I don’t know if the arrival of Trump will resolve the matter.” With a Palestinian people “condemned to despair”the former minister said “fear that tomorrow it will produce generations of frustrated people, even terrorists.”