Israeli airstrikes unite Lebanese against Israel, not Hezbollah, says MP Mark Daou

The Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon are unlikely to turn the local population against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah but will rather infuriate them due to the damage they leave, Lebanese member of parliament Mark Daou said on Tuesday.

“Every time the Israelis tried that strategy in 1993, 1996, 2006, every war they thought they can put a wedge between those who are Lebanese and others that never worked. And it will never work. The attacks are impacting all of Lebanon. We all feel we are victims of Israel,” he said during an interview on GNT presented by Tom Burges Watson.

Daou said that the Lebanese people as a whole are being punished through the Israeli strikes with his home region being one of those bearing the brunt of the results of the strikes.

“People directly started going to villages asking where the public schools are or asking for apartments to rent or literally just stayed over with their relatives or their friends in safer areas. You’ve got four or five families in a 100 square meter, 200 square meter house just to spend a few nights until they find better arrangements,” he told.

Last week, pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon killing at least 39 people and wounding almost 3,000.

Although Israel refused to comment on the explosions, the Middle Eastern country was widely blamed for them. It then began to launch airstrikes on southern Lebanon and the capital Beirut. The strikes have killed at least 560 people and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes since Monday.

Bad action, worse reaction

Even though Daou also criticized Hezbollah for the situation saying that the group unilaterally launched attacks on Israel and has ultimately proven that it cannot provide for the people, he stressed that the Israeli attacks were disproportionately higher, punishing a whole people and amounting to war crimes.

“I think what the Israelis are currently doing is that they’re escalating violently and crossing all limits in terms of war crimes, random strikes against citizens. I realize Hezbollah initiated altercations across the border, but what happened yesterday goes way beyond anything that we’ve seen in the past 11 months.”

He emphasized the necessity for a ceasefire saying that Israel’s strikes and Hezbollah’s possible counterattacks would lead to nothing more than further deterioration of the situation in Lebanon which he described as dire as it is.

“(…) my call to the international community is Lebanon has been a country that is committed to international law. Us being destroyed will help no one. This is a country serving every issue in the Middle East, and it’s a country that can help stabilize the Middle East.”