Hariri’s resignation

Hezbollah also has little to offer in terms of plans to fix economy, which is one of the most indebted in the world

A proposal to tax WhatsApp calls turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in Lebanon. Prime Minister Saad Hariri tendered his resignation to President Michael Aoun after two weeks of nationwide protests over corruption, poor public services and years of economic mismanagement. The protesters have been demanding the departure of the country’s entire political elite, with Hariri — the son of a former prime minister — perhaps the most notable of them all. The Lebanese PM said that resigning was the only way to break the deadlock. But the resignation announcement only came after miscreants allegedly affiliated with Hezbollah and Amal attacked a protest camp in Beirut. The announcement certainly did not suit Hezbollah or Amal — the two members of the ruling coalition that together control 29 seats in Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament. A few days back, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah suggested the protests were foreign-funded while claiming: “Someone is trying to pull [Lebanon] towards civil war.”

Even before the protests, Lebanon was struggling to find fresh sources of funding after financial assistance promised by Saudi Arabia and Qatar failed to arrive. Reports say the government needs to cut spending, raise taxes and introduce anti-corruption measures to release around $11 billion in international aid pledged at a donor conference in Paris in 2018. All such moves have been opposed by Hezbollah, which fears the measures would hurt low-income families that form the largest part of its support-base. But Hezbollah also has little to offer in terms of plans to fix the economy, which is one of the most indebted in the world.

Even before the additional pressure of hosting a large Syrian refugee population, Lebanon had serious priority problems. Almost 30 years after the civil war, development still largely favours the rich, and outside of the lights and glamour of Beirut, poverty is rife.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st, 2019.

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