UAE Calls for Increased Pressure in Lebanon: “Hezbollah Weakened but Not Finished”

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported that a security delegation from the UAE has been in Lebanon for about three weeks, focusing on assessing the situation, gathering information on security and politics, and asking questions about economic sectors.

The delegation met with several political parties, such as the Lebanese Forces and the Phalange Party, MP Ashraf Rifi, independent deputies, and the president of the Beirut Development Association, Ahmad Hashimiya, who is close to President Saad Hariri, as well as with media figures from Lebanese institutions influenced by Abu Dhabi.

Sources familiar with these contacts said that the Emirati delegation discussed their perception of Hezbollah’s current situation, considering that the group, after the severe blow of losing first and second-line leaders, is now in a phase of weakness and will return to its pre-2005 status as a Lebanese political party playing roles like other parties, but no longer leading an axis or being a regional player.

According to some who met the delegation, the latter advised their friends not to believe the notion that Hezbollah is finished and not to treat it as a fact, based on the understanding that military strikes alone cannot end the group, according to the newspaper.

The sources explained that the stance aims to encourage allied forces and groups to play their role and exert pressure on the group, instead of resting on the assumption that they have no role in this regard.

The newspaper noted that the Emirati delegation has their “own understanding of Shiite political Islam, seeing it as more flexible than Sunni political Islam, and that the former may accept a temporary defeat in exchange for ensuring its strategic survival in the scene, thus it might tactically retreat without losing its presence, unlike Sunni political Islam, which does not master such flexibility.”

The delegation focused on the need for Lebanon to have a “rhythm controller” in the coming phase, after Hezbollah had played this role.

The paper stated that, according to the information, the delegation emphasized not rushing the election of a president under fire, to avoid reflecting negatively on the internal situation and the potential for igniting sectarian conflict, which the UAE does not support. They asked about economic sectors and the possibility of investing in them in the coming phase, hinting at the UAE’s interest in both political and non-political investment in Lebanon.

The visit of the Emirati delegation to Beirut coincided with a meeting held last Sunday in Doha, involving representatives from the foreign ministries and intelligence agencies of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, coordinating regarding the emergency summit to be held in Saudi Arabia about Gaza and Lebanon, according to the newspaper report.