Alarming situation in Lebanon

10.7.2013

Question for written answer E-008316-13
to the Council
Rule 117
Giuseppe Gargani (PPE) , Sonia Alfano (ALDE) , Paolo Bartolozzi (PPE) , Vito Bonsignore (PPE) , Antonio Cancian (PPE) , Carlo Casini (PPE) , Lara Comi (PPE) , Lorenzo Fontana (EFD) , Vincenzo Iovine (S&D) , Giovanni La Via (PPE) , Clemente Mastella (PPE) , Alfredo Pallone (PPE) , Aldo Patriciello (PPE) , Oreste Rossi (PPE) , Potito Salatto (PPE) , Marco Scurria (PPE) , Sergio Paolo Francesco Silvestris (PPE) , Salvatore Tatarella (PPE) , Giommaria Uggias (ALDE)

Lebanon, which has been trying to maintain relative stability in the Middle East since the Syrian crisis erupted, is starting to suffer serious consequences. Recently in Tripoli, the home city of the current Lebanese Prime Minister, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters who support the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, clashed with Lebanese activists opposed to the Syrian regime. The clashes were so violent that the army had to intervene. Following the events in Tripoli, further clashes broke out in the southern cities of Beirut and Sidon, this time between different religious factions, namely Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims. The internal instability has also put Israel on the alert, the Israelis having conducted several raids on Lebanese territory by air and by land. Since the ceasefire after the war in 2006, the southern border between Lebanon and Israel has been patrolled by a deployment of United Nations troops (with Italy leading the mission), which has reported how dangerous the situation is on several occasions.

The UN Special Envoy for the implementation of Resolution 1559, Terje Roed-Larsen, has stressed Lebanon’s strategic importance in the region. In 2010 he warned that the Middle East was at an extremely critical juncture. He said that crosswinds were blowing and a hurricane was about to blow up. In the middle of those crosswinds was a tent held up by two poles: one represented by Palestine and the other by Lebanon. If either of the poles broke, the whole tent would collapse.

1. Does the Council not think it should support the Lebanese Government’s efforts to maintain stability in the region and order the Syrian regime not to drag Lebanon into the clashes?

2. Does it not think action should be taken to protect Lebanese politicians, who are obviously at risk of attack?

OJ C 65 E, 05/03/2014