Nearly a year after French President Emmanuel Macron visited Beirut and launched a French initiative to relieve his country’s former colony of its myriad crises, nothing has been achieved. Food prices continue to skyrocket, queues for fuel stretch for miles, and the Lebanese army—which not only guards some of the most sensitive borders in the world but also keeps internal peace in a deeply divided society—has rung alarm bells that it might be on the verge of disintegrating, owing to financial pressure on soldiers.
Iran’s meddling and clashes with the United States over how to handle Hezbollah—an armed militia and a political party—contributed to the French initiative’s early demise. But the central problem was that the French plan’s success rested on the same political class that was, in the first place, accused of the catastrophes unfolding in the country. Their refusal to usher in reforms is undoubtedly the biggest reason the French plan collapsed. France’s reluctance to impose harsh sanctions and inflict a cost on the political elite instead of merely plead with them to do the right thing was utterly naïve—and ultimately destructive.
