Blinken: Future of Lebanon up to its citizens, diplomatic understanding needed

The Star

After attending the East Asia Summit in Laos on Oct 11, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that it is primarily up to the Lebanese people to decide the future of their country, amid what saw as deep concern in Asia about the conflict in the Middle East.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00SECRETARY BLINKEN One of the main challenges that we've seen

00:05in Lebanon is the fact that Hezbollah effectively has taken over many state functions, and in

00:13particular in holding onto its arms, which is not supposed to be the case.

00:19Remember, Israel was in southern Lebanon for a long time, 18 years, and it got out in 2000.

00:26And part of getting Israel out of Lebanon were important understandings that are in

00:35UN Security Council resolutions, 1701, 1559, that, among other things, would make sure

00:42that forces are not up at the border between the country, certainly not irregular forces

00:49like Hezbollah, and non-state actors are supposed to be disarmed.

00:53Well, that didn't happen.

00:55And Hezbollah has posed an ongoing threat to Israel ever since.

00:59When the horror of October 7th happened, the next day Hezbollah joined in, trying to create

01:07another front.

01:08In the process, the rockets and other munitions that they were launching into northern Israel

01:13forced people to flee from their homes, and some 70,000 Israelis have had to leave their

01:18homes.

01:19Similarly, in southern Lebanon, because Israel responded to these attacks from Hezbollah,

01:25you have many people who had to leave their homes.

01:27This is well before the last few weeks.

01:29This is what happened over the last year.

01:33And we all have a strong interest in trying to help create an environment in which people

01:38can go back to their homes and live there safely and securely, and kids can go back

01:41to school.

01:42So Israel has a clear and very legitimate interest in doing that.

01:46The people of Lebanon want the same thing.

01:48We believe that the best way to get there is through a diplomatic understanding, one

01:52that we've been working on for some time, and one that we're extremely focused on right

01:57now.

01:58We've been engaged in conversations, I've been engaged in conversations with countries

02:01throughout the region, and with the Lebanese themselves, and what I'm getting from these

02:08conversations is a strong desire, not only on the part of many countries that are concerned

02:15about Lebanon, but especially the Lebanese themselves, to actually see the state stand

02:21up, assert itself, take responsibility for the lives of its citizens.

02:27And again, one way to do that would be by resolving the issue of a vacant presidency,

02:32but there are a number of other things that I know the Lebanese are focused on that can

02:36make a real difference.

02:37But it's up to them.

02:40It's their country.

02:41It's their future.

02:42The United States, many other countries want to help.

02:44Similarly, we've long been a supporter of the one institution that unites pretty much

02:50every Lebanese, and that's the Lebanese Armed Forces, and many other countries as well.

02:57So I think there are a number of things that others can do to support the Lebanese state

03:05standing up and taking responsibility for the people and for the future of the country,

03:09but the fundamental decisions about how that gets done, those decisions belong to the Lebanese

03:13people.

Category

Transcript

Recommended