Lebanon matters

The Lebanese people will head to the polls on Sunday, and the country’s future could depend on a high turnout among the diaspora and voting changes inside Lebanon. However, the Hezbollah stranglehold on the country is expected to remain.

This leaves us with the similar Catch-22 that we have faced for years to our North: we want Lebanon to be stable and successful, but Hezbollah seeks to siphon off resources of any success and use them to build up its arsenal. If Lebanon is weakened, Hezbollah wins by forcing Lebanese to flee the country as it continues to grow its Iranian-financed tentacles.

More than 100,000 Lebanese living abroad have already cast ballots for the parliamentary election, many backing political newcomers after the worst crisis since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war led to widespread poverty and a wave of emigration. Sunday’s election would be the first for the 128-member legislature since mass protests in October 2019 against political elites widely seen as responsible for decades of corruption and mismanagement.

The tragedy of Lebanon is one that shocks the region....