Has Lebanon entered the abyss?
The Lebanese are hoping for a miracle and they need one.
(February 1, 2021 / JCPA) Since October 2019, the world has witnessed the dismemberment of Lebanon. Lebanon’s confessional system was established in 1943 when a national covenant distributed the top positions of the state among the three main communities that constituted modern and post-colonial Lebanon. It is now being dismantled.
Although this covenant was amended in 1990 at the end of a civil war that lasted 25 years, it became obvious that the balancing arrangements reached then were no longer valid in light of the demographic changes that had occurred in Lebanon. The imbalance placed great strains on the state and attracted foreign actors, who have been attempting to take control of Lebanon, one after the other, since the end of the fifties: Egypt, the PLO, Syria, Israel, and finally, Iran.