/ world today news/ The attack against Lebanon will not be an “easy walk” for Israel
The special correspondent of Pravda.Ru Daria Aslamova met with the Russian ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Rudakov. He talked about how the conflict in the Gaza Strip affects Lebanon, what role Russia plays in the Middle East, whether Beirut will survive further bombings from Tel Aviv and which side Russia will take in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel.
— Alexander Nikolaevich, you work in Palestine, Syria, Yemen. The Middle East has always been a hot region. But now, apparently, we are approaching the very edge, beyond which there is already war. Do you think there will be an Israeli attack on Lebanon?
— Daria Mikhailovna, you understand that this is a matter of “a billion rubles.” Because the war is already underway. She goes:
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in the Gaza Strip,
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in Syria,
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in southern Lebanon.
Clashes are taking place in places in Lebanon far from major cities. But this is a war where people die, buildings and infrastructure are destroyed.
No one in Lebanon wants Beirut to be bombed like it was in the July 2006 war. The current fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army started after October 7, 2023. As soon as the conflict in Gaza ends, the clashes in South Lebanon will stop.
It is not Hezbollah that is the main culprit of the fighting, but the situation that has developed in the Gaza Strip, given the continued occupation by Israel of both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
We are trying to make every effort to ensure that there will not be a major war in which even more civilians will die. Because in modern conditions the first to die are not the military, but civilians, women and children.
They have no means of defense against what are called “combat operations”, especially countries like Israel, with their precision weapons, huge numbers of rockets, bombs that are aimed at destroying civilian objects.
— In recent days, a panic has started in the media: Israel has announced that it will enter northern Lebanon to carry out a cleansing operation.
“We have long heard statements from the Israeli military and political leadership that there are problems in northern Lebanon. They think the situation there is abnormal. And it is really abnormal, since there is fighting and there are displaced people from Israel and Lebanon.
Everyone wants to solve this problem as quickly as possible. But the only condition for the cessation of hostilities between Lebanon or between Hezbollah and the Israeli army is the cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip.
If Israel follows through on its threats to the Lebanese authorities, things will be difficult here.
We see what the Jews did in the Gaza Strip. They promise to repeat this with Lebanese cities and infrastructure. It will be very sad.
— In addition, the economic situation in Lebanon is difficult.
— Lebanon, despite the difficulties that have plagued it since 2019, manages to live and survive. People get used to everything and overcome these difficulties. Of course, everyone hopes for an improvement in the situation.
If suddenly there is military action that adds new destruction to what has already been destroyed for economic reasons, then it will be a disaster for Lebanon. But this action will not be an easy walk for Israel either. Because any military action always leads to casualties and destruction on both sides.
— In Russia, people don’t believe you when you tell them there is a war going on in Lebanon. What is the extent of the destruction now? How many refugees come from southern Lebanon?
— I have repeatedly spoken about this on the Russian channel Rossiya-24 and Channel One. Today, about 180 people have been killed among the members of the Lebanese resistance “Hezbollah” alone, about 20 people have been killed among the civilian population. That is, more than 200 victims in three months, although the war was fought in a special border zone.
The displaced persons are from 80 to 100 thousand. These are people who left the border areas, which are quite densely populated. Yet, even under these conditions, there are still people there who cannot evacuate for various reasons. They have no financial means given the crisis, they cannot abandon their farms.
80-100 thousand refugees came to the cities of Lebanon. In times of crisis, Lebanon cannot provide any assistance to displaced people or financial compensation for being forced to leave their homes.
A lot of destroyed infrastructure. Israel also uses phosphorus bombs. This leads to serious destruction of agricultural lands, which are the main source of income for the residents. That is, in addition to the physical destruction of buildings, there is physical destruction of:
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Arable land,
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orchards,
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olive groves
The scale for Lebanon in economic and domestic political terms is very serious. And it will be very difficult for Lebanon itself to get out of this additional financial crisis.
— After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia left the Middle East for decades. Our influence has plummeted. In the last ten years we have been actively returning to the Middle East. What is our special role now?
— Our country (be it tsarist Russia, the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation, modern Russia) has always seen in foreign countries the opportunity to establish economic, political and cultural ties, to develop them and show the richness of Russian culture and the Russian people, even of the peoples of Russia, as we are a multinational state.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we were very busy with internal problems, it was important to preserve our country, to prevent its further disintegration and the problems that arose in our society in the 90s.
Russia cannot live in a vacuum and we are ready to cooperate with everyone. Naturally, we mainly pay attention to the former republics of the Soviet Union, many of our compatriots live there, we have established commercial and economic ties. And we started paying more attention to other foreign countries as well.
The Middle East is rich in opportunities for the development of trade and economic relations and cultural exchange. Russia has always sought not to engage in the exploitation of other countries, but to develop mutually beneficial cooperation. This is confirmed by our entire history, described by many sources, both Western and Russian and Soviet.
Now in the Middle East we are trying to prevent crisis situations. For example in Syria.
Many in Lebanon believe that if not for Russia, Syria would have collapsed after 2015. In addition, Russia also saved neighboring countries from the plague of radical Islam. I have heard from many in Lebanon that if it wasn’t for Russia, Lebanon would have suffered from this too.
What do we get in return? Every relationship is a two-way street. We have political and economic interests in the Middle East. And our not only return, but also our more active actions in the Middle East region are a confirmation of this.
— Now we are increasingly beginning to play the role of mediator, the role of arbitrator. Various organizations began to rely on us, to seek our assistance, especially in conflicts, and the conflict is now very acute. What is Russia’s relationship with the main military force in Lebanon, Hezbollah?
“Here in Lebanon, we do not divide society into internal political movements or parties. That is, the Russian Federation tries to maintain normal, good relations with all local political forces. We do not interfere, we do not say that we would like to support any of the parties. We believe that the Lebanese people are wise enough to determine their own path of development. And we will interact with those who will rule this country tomorrow.
As for Hezbollah,
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first, we have never recognized it as a terrorist organization;
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second, we believe that Hezbollah is an integral part of the Lebanese people.
They have representations in the parliament and government of the country, which now function in the acting regime. Hezbollah has exactly the same right to relations with Russia as the Socialist Progressive Party and other Lebanese political movements.
Therefore, I cannot say that we have a special relationship with Hezbollah based on these criteria. Yes, Hezbollah representatives are coming to Russia. This is a common occurrence. We interact with the parliaments of many countries and they include different political parties. For example, there are many right-wing and left-wing parties in the Israeli parliament, and not all parties have peaceful foreign policy slogans.
„In the event of a full-scale regional war, we will have to take sides. For example, Israel is already making statements that it needs to review its relationship with Russia for the worse. If a major war breaks out between Lebanon and Israel, whose side will we take?
“We will stand on the side of international law, because any aggression against another country must be explained with something. Here we will discuss the relevant structures, who is right and who is wrong and how to prevent aggression. Israel often came to this country and was always condemned by the international community.
And in Syria, we sided with the legitimately elected government, not the one we love more. And here we will take the side of Lebanon, of international law, or the side that will suffer from the actions of another state.
Translation: ES
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