In a recent statement, Dr. Walid Phares, a former advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, emphasized the urgent need for the Lebanese Army to enforce international law rather than adhering to Hezbollah’s regulations. Phares highlighted Hezbollah’s recent attack on Bkerke and the Maronite Patriarchs, characterizing it as a “direct assault on Lebanon’s Christian population, indirectly affecting the Sunnis and Druze.”
Phares asserted that the “majority of Lebanese citizens, both within the country and in the diaspora, would staunchly oppose such actions.” He warned against leveraging Lebanese state institutions to suppress the Church, suggesting that such measures could lead to the declaration of a “unilaterally free zone by concerned parties.”
The former advisor underscored that laws governing relations with Israel should be contingent on implementing international decisions, starting with the “implementation of Resolution 1559.” He proposed subsequent steps, including holding new parliamentary elections, allowing the “newly elected parliament to determine which laws would be retained and which would be annulled.”
The Lebanese-born American scholar and conservative political expert, stated that “the Syrian occupation and the control of Iranian militias have led to the paralysis of the national security laws in Lebanon and the Taif Agreement.”
“The violation of all these texts by the Syrian and Iranian occupiers and the central state’s loss of its sovereignty has prevented their application,” he said, calling for the restoration of national sovereignty and the implementation of international laws.
Highlighting the ongoing interactions between armed militias in Lebanon and the Iranian regime, Phares asserted that there could be “no civil and peaceful relationships between members of the Lebanese civil society and with foreign states until international decisions were implemented.” He also urged the Lebanese Army to adhere strictly to international law until the complete implementation of relevant decisions, and not to choose between “international laws and those imposed by Hezbollah.”
Phares concluded by stating categorically that “Hezbollah’s laws would not find implementation under the international umbrella.” He emphasized that it was the duty of the Lebanese Army to put an end to the “rule of militias, rather than enforcing their provisions.”
