Why the U.S. Should Help Prevent Lebanon's Collapse.

• Author: Harb, Imad K.

Title: Why the U.S. Should Help Prevent Lebanon's Collapse

Author: Imad K. Harb

Lebanon today is experiencing wrenching convulsions that threaten its complete disintegration. It may be difficult, or unwise, for the Biden Administration to wade into Lebanon's waters. But if the United States wants to preserve its strategic posture along the eastern Mediterranean--which is essential for its influence in the entire Levant--it cannot afford not to be involved in helping the country.

Lebanon's economy is on its last breath, as its currency slips precipitously against the American dollar. Politically, the famed Lebanese politicians? knack for compromise has practically disappeared as they fail to form a government to lead the country out of its dark tunnel. Its multi-confessional social fabric is hanging by a thread as everyone gets squeezed by the dual pressures of the collapsing economy and absent political solutions. Indeed, Lebanon today represents the failure of its domestic forces to lead it away from the proverbial abyss and dreaded civil unrest and war.

But Lebanon is also a country in a turbulent region where the domestic quickly and irreversibly becomes regional and impacts cross-cutting issues at play. Next door is Syria's bleeding wound as the regime of President Bashar al-Assad approaches completing its reconquest of the country following more than a decade of devastating civil war and outside intervention. Also next door is an ambitious and expanding Israel committed to realizing hegemonic goals in the Levant and preventing both Lebanon and Syria from becoming permanent bases for the Iranian regime. Lebanon is also part of a complicated regional environment witnessing sharp competitions between Iran, Gulf Arab countries, Israel, Russia, China, and the United States, all maneuvering for influence in the strategic eastern Mediterranean region. The U.S. has much to lose if Lebanon collapses.

These and other dynamics and threats--terror networks, refugee flows, cross-border smuggling, and drug trafficking, among other things--only exacerbate and complicate Lebanon's problems. In fact, part of the trick is in how Lebanon can disentangle its domestic issues from its regional environment so that it can have some respite from crises. This is where the Biden administration can help by supporting state institutions, such as the armed forces, to help keep communal peace and prevent civil strife. It can also mount a joint effort with other friends of Lebanon in the Arab world and Europe to pressure the country's politicians to both facilitate the formation of a government and separate the country's internal affairs from complicated regional influences like those from Iran. Given how things are developing in Beirut and other areas of the country, allowing problems to fester further is practically...