Report from Beirut: Israel Bombs Banks, Attacks UNIFIL in Expanding War of Aggression

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

We turn now to Israel’s escalating attacks on Lebanon. The Israeli military says it’s hit buildings housing nearly a dozen bank branches of Al-Qard al-Hassan, a financial institution with ties to Hezbollah. Many of the banks were located in residential buildings and held the savings for many Lebanese residents.

On Sunday, UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, accused Israel of deliberately demolishing another U.N. observation tower in what UNIFIL described as a “flagrant violation of international law.”

U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut today, and in his first remarks, he said Lebanon and Israel just committing to U.N. Resolution 1701 is not enough.

AMOS HOCHSTEIN: President Biden said our goal is a comprehensive agreement that implements U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and ensures this conflict is the last for many generations. 1701 was successful at ending the war in 2006, but we must be honest that no one did anything to implement it. The lack of implementation over those years contributed to the conflict that we are in today.

AMY GOODMAN: This comes as Hezbollah continues to fire missiles at Israel in response. On Saturday, a drone hit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s seaside home in the northern Israeli town of Caesarea. Netanyahu and his family were not there.

We’ll talk more about Iran, but we begin in Beirut, where we’re joined by Jamil Mouawad, assistant professor of politics and policy at the American University of Beirut.

Thank you for joining us from Beirut. If you can first talk about how besieged, how under siege you feel and people in Beirut feel, in Lebanon, and then talk about Israel targeting the bank branches that they say support Hezbollah?

JAMIL MOUAWAD: Yeah. Thanks for having me.

Actually, the situation in Lebanon is incredibly difficult. We currently live in a limbo. Life has come to a halt, basically, with people concerned about when do they go about their normal life, when students will go back to schools, to universities, people will go back to their jobs, but also to their normal life. So, there is a lot of anxiety going on.

And this is due primarily to the fact that, apparently, there are no serious diplomatic efforts to end the war as soon as possible. Today, as you just mentioned, the U.S. envoy was in Beirut. This morning, we read that Netanyahu and the Israeli government have submitted a proposal for a potential ceasefire. Israel is adopting a maximalist position in this direction. They want to — they are demanding the right to engage in active enforcement in the south of Lebanon. That is, intervening whenever they deem necessary. And also they are requiring freedom in operating in the Lebanese airspace. And this is a clear violation of not only the 1701, but this is a clear violation of the Lebanese sovereignty. So, either this proposal is a proposal to basically end the negotiations before they even start, or this is a proposal for Lebanon to surrender.

I just remind you and everyone that the battle in the south is still ongoing. Hezbollah is still able to fight back and resist. The Israelis are not able yet to invade Lebanon, as they probably would like to. Hezbollah is still able to fire its rockets and drones to Israel. We’ve seen, a week ago, a drone has hit the Golani military base in Israel. Two days ago, we saw that a drone, another drone, hit directly the home of — the sea home of Benjamin Netanyahu. And if this tells us anything, it tells us that Hezbollah is still able to operate in the south. And the battleground will definitely shape the negotiations, as well.

Yesterday, as you mentioned, Israel attacked directly and bombed financial institutions related directly to Hezbollah. Of course, we all know that Israel has identified any institution, civilian or not, directly affiliated with Hezbollah as a threat, and they are bombing it. Of course, this is only a way to demolish buildings in Lebanon and to further terrorize the Lebanese civilians.

AMY GOODMAN: And if you can talk about who uses this bank? Do you agree that it’s used to — it’s used for banking by Hezbollah? But also, who else? And where are these banking branches located around Lebanon?

JAMIL MOUAWAD: Yeah, I mean, these branches are located almost everywhere in Lebanon, in Beirut mostly. These are banks that offer microcredits for the Lebanese. Of course, the majority of the constituency of Hezbollah benefit from these credits. Some people claim — and this is true — that there is no oversight over these financial institutions by the central Lebanese bank, but this is also, unfortunately, to remind everyone that private and commercial banks have escaped this accountability for years, and we have a collapsed banking sector now in Lebanon.

AMY GOODMAN: Um —

JAMIL MOUAWAD: So, this is not — these —

AMY GOODMAN: Well, let me ask you another question, and it has to do right now with UNIFIL and what’s happening with the U.N. forces in southern Lebanon, and also how that relates to the U.N. Resolution 1701. But they say another watchtower has been blown up by Israel. Israel wants them out. The significance of this, Professor Mouawad?

JAMIL MOUAWAD: Yeah, it’s very shocking, actually, that Israel wants the blue helmets, the UNIFIL group, to withdraw from Lebanon, because they want to basically invade Lebanon. And UNIFIL has been very defiant so far, and they said, “We’re not withdrawing from the south.” They even went far and said that there is no way that only one member of the United Nations would dictate on us what to do. UNIFIL is in the south based on a U.N. resolution.

And this shows how aggressive and immune — it shows how Netanyahu benefits from impunity. We saw him directly attacking the UNIFIL. We saw him, as well, directly attacking the U.N. Secretary-General Guterres and declaring him as a persona non grata in Israel. We saw him also attacking and directly shaming President Macron when President Macron mentioned the possibility of imposing an arms embargo on the Israelis in order not to go on with their genocide in Gaza. The day after, he shamed him and told him, “Shame on you for even thinking about this.” So, this shows how aggressive and dramatic Netanyahu is and is willing to do everything in order for him to move on and implement his expansionist project.

AMY GOODMAN: Jamil, you have the U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein now in Beirut. You have Blinken headed to Israel. It’s not clear where he’ll be on his tour. It is his 11th trip in the last year to the area. And you have the Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warning, “We will keep striking the Iranian proxy until it collapses.” Also, if you can talk about what Israel is demanding for a ceasefire? Axios reports Israel demands its Air Force has freedom of operation in Lebanese airspace, also demands — Israel demands that the IDF be allowed to engage in active enforcement to attack Hezbollah. This will be part of the ceasefire that they say they would accept.

JAMIL MOUAWAD: Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, in fact, this is a maximalist position by the Israelis. They don’t want — clearly, they don’t want a ceasefire. Clearly, they don’t want to respect the U.N. Resolution 1701. I remind everyone that U.N. Resolution 1701 is very clear. As per this resolution, the Lebanese Army should be deployed in the south, but it also should be equipped in order for it to be able to defend Lebanon from potential aggressions. The Lebanese government also demands the demarcation of the borders with Israel. ’Til now, Israel does not recognize any borders with Lebanon, except for the Blue Line, which is a withdrawal line and not the borders. So, this shows that Israel is not serious about a potential ceasefire.

But not only that, this poses questions as to what the United States of America wants. Are they impartial when it comes to these negotiations? I remind everyone that Amos Hochstein was serving at the Israeli army. So, is he impartial? Is he not? This is a question. This is a serious question. But so far, as we saw in Gaza on many occasions, the Americans are complicit in this genocide, and they’re complicit in the war against Lebanon. And there is nothing that shows that they really want to impose a ceasefire on Lebanon. Not only that, they probably would like to — and this is what Amos Hochstein said — to protect the interests of the Israelis by him referring to the fact that the Lebanese government or the UNIFIL did not even enforce 1701 in the past, and he did not refer at all to the many violations of the Israelis when it comes to the 1701, specifically when it comes to the airspace violation of Lebanon during these 20 years.

AMY GOODMAN: Jamil Mouawad is assistant professor of politics and policy at Department of Political Studies and Public Administration at the American University of Beirut, speaking to us from Beirut.