TWO hundred days have passed and Lebanon has yet to form its executive authority. According to the Taif Agreement that ended the civil war in Lebanon, the executive authority is the ruling authority after stripping the presidency of its power.
The absence of the executive authority in Lebanon is complementing the sequence of historic vacuum in constructional authorities since 1992 when the Lebanese Constitution was shelved and everyone started ruling with the logic of power. This kind of logic is currently used by the militia group, ‘Hezbollah,’ which sees Lebanon as nothing more than a ground for Iran’s regional vendettas.
Twenty six years after the civil war ended, Lebanon is drowning in debt which has reached about 152 percent of its GDP, while its economy continues to deteriorate due to political crises which have been swallowing the confidence of non-Lebanese investors.
This is followed by lack of productive schemes that will help reduce the unemployment rate which has reached around 34 percent. This situation will eventually pave way for people to slip into extremism due to the need for money to secure the simplest and most basic needs.
Strangely, majority of the political factions are unable to address these problems because of the de facto rule in the country – through latent terrorism – under the pretext of participating in decision making in accordance with the above mentioned agreement.
This tool of terror is the only one benefiting from the choking economic situation as it increases the number of recruits, prompting most countries to view a significant percentage of the Lebanese population as terrorists.
Unfortunately, this country, which was considered as the lungs of the Arab world in terms of freedom, liberty and prosperity, is on the verge of slipping into an undesirable slope due to its institutions’ dilapidation and disarray. This is in addition to the inability to tame the faction that is bullying others, dominating the helm of rule, occupying the second authority (Parliament), and striving towards grabbing the third authority (Cabinet).
This faction has involved Lebanon in three devastating wars. It is now dragging the country into a fourth war – with Israel – by messing up with the latter on the northern border by digging tunnels.
The faction is doing all this while being aware that it cannot defeat Israel. Instead, it will worsen the suffering of the Lebanese; more than the stance which will be taken by the international community to oppose Iran and its militias in the Arab world and support the Israeli policies.
The faction’s leader – Hassan Nasrallah, and everything he possesses in terms of rockets and weapons are unable to attack an Israeli patrol vehicle because he is aware that if things go south this time, it will be intense and perhaps it will be the end for him.
So far, there is no light at the end of the tunnel considering the vacuum in the Lebanese executive authority. Nasrallah is to be blamed for this situation, which will continue as long as the ‘caveman’ lives in Daheih while holding Lebanon and the Lebanese as hostages.
Therefore, the only solution to this predicament is a Lebanese populist uprising against ‘Hezbollah’ as the first step, and then against anyone who supports this group. This entails rescuing Lebanon from the claws of its captors – the agents of the Mullah regime – in order to prevent the country from becoming internationally isolated like Iran.

By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times