‘It’s a very fragile ceasefire’, says Lebanese MP

Matt Frei: How does it feel to be bombed into a cease fire?
Ghassan Hasbani: This is basically a ceasefire under fire. These are the last hours before any potential declaration in the early hours of the morning, tomorrow morning, of an agreement. This is pretty much an agreement predominantly between Hezbollah and Israel, also covered by parts of the Lebanese government, under a certain process and sponsored by the US and various other countries, hopefully that it would lead to a more permanent solution later on.
Matt Frei: So it gives you some breathing space. Is it enough to allow Lebanon, with all its incredible economic difficulties, to rebuild, to become a viable state again?
Ghassan Hasbani: The ceasefire for two months is more of a trial period to ensure the implementation of UN Resolution 1701 practically, and this is basically what it practically is all about. Definitely, as we’ve been hearing on the Lebanese side from the displaced people, as well as on the Israeli side, that people are still a bit cautious about returning home, about going back to normal life until this becomes a permanent situation. So it’s a very fragile ceasefire given the conditions that have been put in place. But nevertheless, it’s a practical implementation of UN Resolution 1701 that was effectively voted on almost 18 years ago after the Israeli war in 2006.
Matt Frei: Hezbollah has been severely weakened by the Israeli onslaught in recent months. Do you welcome the fact that Hezbollah has been put into a box?
Ghassan Hasbani: We were actually hoping and we called for, as the opposition parties in Lebanon, for a peaceful implementation of UN resolutions, particularly 1701 and 1559, that call for the withdrawal from the south of the Litani River, dismantling the military capabilities and the handover of weapons to the legitimate and sovereign Lebanese armed forces to be all under the Lebanese government, sovereign government, umbrella. Yet these calls were never met. Today, unfortunately, they had to be done in such difficult circumstances with such huge losses to the Lebanese people, the Lebanese economy, and we are going back to something that was agreed upon back in 2006. So at least, let’s hope that something positive will come out of this, with all the unfortunate losses of lives and property and economic losses as well.
Matt Frei: Finally, and briefly, you are going to live under the constant potential threat of Israeli bombardment should Hezbollah try something on again, as the prime minister said just a few minutes ago. How does that feel? As a former deputy prime minister, as a member of the parliament, how does it feel to have that constant Israeli threat hanging over you?
Ghassan Hasbani: This has always been the case to a large extent, except that the bombardment hasn’t happened so frequently. Violations of airspace have happened most of the time in the past and many times in the past. But definitely, this is an issue with the sovereignty of the country. We were hoping as a sovereign state would actually be able to implement the UN resolution so that it would retain its sovereignty. The sovereignty was breached by the existence of Hezbollah and the support of Iran militarily to Hezbollah for many, many years as well on Lebanese territory. And so was the Israeli overflights and interference every now and then. So if this period is only a temporary period to ensure that the agreement stands, this would eventually lead to a withdrawal of the Israelis and a more permanent solution. And let’s hope we will get to that eventually.