By Karim El Mufti
Professor of Political Science and International Law
Professor of Political Science and International Law
Science Po Paris & Saint-Joseph University in Beirut
European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed)
November 2023
On 7 October 2023, the Palestinian armed group Hamas – acronym in Arabic for ‘Movement of Islamic Resistance’ – attacked the outskirts of Gaza inside the Israeli southern territory, killing more than a thousand Israelis, between military personnel – inside targeted barracks – and civilians in several kibbutz and other neighbouring towns. This offensive has shaken Israel to the core and led to a massive military retaliation against the Palestinian population inside the Gaza strip, causing unspeakable losses of lives and suffering, with more than 10,000 casualties killed so far, among whom half are children.
This tragic escalation of violence between Hamas and Israel brought direct implications to the Lebanese context, which constitutes a standing front between the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and Israel, as the two countries are still officially at war. Since the July-August War of 2006, the Lebanese-Israeli conflict was punctuated by balanced rules of engagement, with regular clashes and skirmishes between the two sides.
This tragic escalation of violence between Hamas and Israel brought direct implications to the Lebanese context, which constitutes a standing front between the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and Israel, as the two countries are still officially at war. Since the July-August War of 2006, the Lebanese-Israeli conflict was punctuated by balanced rules of engagement, with regular clashes and skirmishes between the two sides.
The day after the Hamas attacks, the Lebanese front reignited with shelling occurring from and into the two countries, leading to casualties. Fears started to rise in Lebanon as to the possible extension of the conflict engulfing the country into a new round of destruction as in 2006. Lebanon and its population are already extremely vulnerable as its economic situation has been crumbling since October 2019, due to a historic multidimensional crisis, coupled with acute institutional paralysis.
Since October 2022, the country is undergoing once again a dangerous void among its key political institutions, as Lebanese parliamentarians were unable to elect a new President of the Republic. The Cabinet is handled by a caretaker government and the Parliament is unable to enact legislation until the issue of the election of the country’s president is addressed.
Full paper here
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