“a violation of Lebanese sovereignty”, according to a Franco-Lebanese politician

Exiled in Lebanon for several years, Saleh al-Arouri was killed with his bodyguards in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, a stronghold of Hezbollah. Six people in all died.

“It is a violation of Lebanese sovereignty”, declared Ziad Majed, Franco-Lebanese researcher and political scientist, professor at the American University of Paris on franceinfo Tuesday January 2, while Hamas announced the death of its number 2 in a drone strike attributed to Israel, near Beirut. According to him, Israel attacked “to the Lebanese capital”it is therefore a “extremely dangerous event”, “with all the risks that this entails”.

franceinfo: Is it a surprise that there could be an Israeli strike on Beirut?

Ziad Majed: It is a surprise, in the sense that the Lebanese are used to attacks from South Lebanon, of low or medium intensity. An attack like this, right next to the capital, in one of the most populated neighborhoods… It is an extremely dangerous event, because it targets an area where there is a demographic density and a social base , the political base of Lebanese Hezbollah which had already threatened to retaliate if the southern suburbs were attacked. The targeted district is located a few hundred meters from Beirut international airport.

It is therefore an extremely populated district, which explains the strong words of the Lebanese Prime Minister. This evening, Najib Mikati denounces a “new Israeli crime”?

Absolutely, because it is a violation of Lebanese sovereignty. This goes beyond the political or military messages that we have observed since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. This is very dangerous, further developments should be expected. Especially when we look at the profile of the person targeted: Saleh al-Arouri, born in the West Bank. Israel destroyed his family’s home recently near Ramallah. He had spent 18 years in Israeli prisons and was one of the members of the delegation that negotiated the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

In this event, it is necessary to take into account the profile of the targeted person, the population density of the neighborhood, which is also the political headquarters of Hezbollah. For the government, it is an escalation and an Israeli desire to no longer be satisfied with the territoriality of the conflict, but to attack the Lebanese capital with all the risks that this generates.

Since October 7, the Hamas attack on Israeli soil, there has been great caution on the part of the Lebanese government. What is the position of the Lebanese Prime Minister regarding his country’s possible entry into war?

There has been caution for a very long time, because Lebanon does not want to go to war, even Hezbollah has shown that it does not want to see the intensity of the fighting increase. But with this event, the declaration of war is more and more explicit, on the Israeli side. The Lebanese government knows that between the Lebanese political crisis, the collapse of the economy, and the regional situation, today, there is the Lebanese diaspora. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese are in the country to support the economy and families. We will probably see departures at the airport, there will be panic.

The Prime Minister, even if he has no say in Israeli decisions, will try to calm things down through France, Qatar and certain countries in the region, Turkey perhaps. Otherwise, it can become extremely dangerous. It must be remembered that in Lebanon, there are 300,000 Palestinian refugees driven from their land since 1949. Today, these are their descendants, a third generation. There is Palestinian anger and frustration at all they see from the massacres and bombings in Gaza.