Although it has been a frustrating summer, Lebanon remains on the right track. My observation after a ten-day visit to Beirut and Jerusalem this month is that leaders in both capitals remain strongly committed to a shared objective. The goal is restoring the Lebanese state so it can regain a monopoly of arms, take responsibility for securing its borders, and make sovereign decisions about the conduct of relations across those borders.
Moreover, while Lebanese have a wide spectrum of views on the pace and tactics, opinion across Lebanese communities is growing in favor of the objectives. Even among Hezbollah’s own community, polling and anecdotal information suggest that the militia’s endangerment of its own people has cost it heavily. Support for Hezbollah is evaporating, although that has not yet translated into outright opposition or the rise of an alternative. Political attitudes in the south seem to be fluid; the sooner the state is able to reassert its presence and provide security and restore shattered lives, the better.
Photo by Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images
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