The United Nations held the Summit of the Future from 22 to September 2024, before the High-Level Week of the 79th General Assembly. It ended with signing the Pact for the Future, aiming to reform and mobilise the supranational body to address the most critical challenges humankind faces. This should mean taking steps rarely or never executed before. And there you go, we already have a challenge to tackle using the new approach.
Part of the conflicts of Israel with Palestine and "sympathisers" is one with the Lebanese Shi'a militant group Hezbollah, and Lebanon suffered from remotely triggered explosions of devices notably pagers and walkie-talkies, with dozens of casualties and overwhelming the country's healthcare system.
Fearing an invasion of Israel, which possibly instigated the attacks, the country's Defence Force (IDF) conducted airstrikes in restive South Lebanon, killing more than 700 including top Hezbollah officials Fuad Shukr (Fouad Choukr) and Ibrahim Aqil. This is akin to the country's operation in the Gaza Strip to topple the leadership and structure of the Sunni Islamist group Hamas, that aside from its leaders, more than 40 000 people, around 40% of which are children, were killed in what is tantamount to a genocide. Israel also claimed to have hit the Hezbollah headquarters and claimed the life of leader Hassan(e) Nasrallah.
Lebanon's socioeconomic situation is unstable since 2019 after plans to increase taxes on goods like petroleum and mobile services, and the liquidity crisis was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the explosion in the Port of Beirut (read more). The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel further adds to economic and political hardships the masses are reeling from.
Acknowledging the country's political collapse, right after the Port explosion, on 06 August 2020 a petition garnered more than 50 000 signatures, appealing to France to take over the country. It seemed like bucking the decolonisation trend, but France refused to get involved with other countries' most internal affairs that touch masses directly. With this economic crisis, the conflict with the southern neighbour, and the adoption of the Pact for the Future, maybe instead of France, the UN make a takeover of Lebanon.
It's like setting interim administrations like what the body had done on Cambodia in 1992 and Timor-Leste in 1999; it will be the UN itself running the country's affairs. This might help improve the economic and security conditions of the country and restructure its political system, and not keep Hezbollah in check but bring it to its knees.
But Israel might not find it a viable solution; take note of the Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was installed in 1978 and present in the South region to mitigate the growth of Hezbollah. The Islamist group still managed to strengthen its capabilities through partners in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and most notably the Iranian mullahs' regime. An interim administration may however be the answer to this concern: the task of defeating Hezbollah should be up to the international community, as Israel taking the role only deteriorates the living conditions of the Lebanese masses, with fears of operations similar to the scouring and wiping-out of Gaza growing in the country.
I don't however know if the Lebanese would welcome this suggestion, but I hope they find this sound. If the UN were to make this its first major step since the adoption of the Pact, I wish it good luck.
Article posted on 28 September 2024, 08:45 (UTC +08:00).
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