November 22, Lebanon’s Independence Day, was once a celebration of freedom and sovereignty. However, today, the reality we live stands in stark contrast to the values of independence. Independence has been reduced to a mere memory, stripped of its core elements such as free decision-making, liberty, law, equality, democracy, services, peace, security, stability, and protected borders—the list goes on, and all are absent.
Today, Lebanon has completely lost its independence and against the will of its majority, it finds itself under sectarian, jihadist, and terrorist Iranian occupation.
This occupation is enforced through a local armed militia comprised of Lebanese mercenaries working under the command of Iran’s mullahs, operating under the blasphemously named “Hezbollah.” This armed Iranian proxy, through its actions of force, terror, assassinations, wars, and displacement, stands against everything Lebanon represents—justice, rights, love, peace, stability, identity, and openness to the world.
As a result of this occupation, Lebanon is now witnessing a destructive war between Iran’s Hezbollah and the State of Israel. This is an Iranian-Israeli war in which Lebanon and its vast majority have no stake. It is not Lebanon’s war while Hezbollah initiated it under direct orders from Iran, serving Tehran’s terrorist, expansionist, and colonial agendas.
There is no independence to celebrate today. Lebanon has effectively become a Hezbollah state. This failed and rogue state continuously violates the constitution and paralyzes governance. Hezbollah prevents the election of a president, shuts down parliament, and dismantles state institutions.
The current parliament, subservient and failing in its constitutional duties, was formed under an electoral law crafted by Hezbollah to ensure its dominance. This law predetermined the election results before they even took place.
How can we celebrate Independence Day when state institutions are infiltrated, the judiciary is controlled, citizens’ savings have been stolen from banks, borders are wide open for smuggling, and chaos reigns? Killings, theft, poverty, displacement, and humiliation define the daily lives of Lebanese citizens.
The independence we should be celebrating today has become an empty memory. True independence will not return to Lebanon until it is liberated from Hezbollah’s occupation and Iran’s domination. Achieving this liberation requires implementing all international resolutions pertaining to Lebanon, including the Armistice Agreement and Resolutions 1559, 1701, and 1680. It also demands conducting free parliamentary elections under a modern electoral law, eradicating corruption, and holding the corrupt political class accountable.
Until then, Lebanon remains an occupied state, and Independence Day is but a painful reminder of a freedom that is no more.
