Lebanese Politician Nawfal Daou And Lebanese Economist Tawfiq Kasbar: Lebanon Is Being Occupied By Iran, Through Hizbullah

On October 29, 2022, Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) aired a panel in which Lebanese politician Nawfal Daou and Lebanese economist Tawfiq Kasbar spoke about current affairs in Lebanon. Daou and Kasbar said that Lebanon is under Iranian occupation, particularly through Hizbullah, and Kasbar said that Lebanon’s banks have experienced their biggest collapse in modern history. In addition, Daou said that Iran is stealing Lebanon’s resources to fund its occupation, and that it is starving the people in order to distract them from demanding freedom and democracy.

Nawfal Daou: "[All] that Michel Aoun has done for Lebanon at this time is that he handed it over to the Iranian occupation, I am sad to say."

Tawfiq Kasbar: "Lebanon is living under Iranian occupation. This occupation is implemented by a militia that belongs to the IRGC. This militia is called Hizbullah. It is a common mistake to talk about political and economic performance as two separate things. The two intrinsically interconnected. It is impossible for an occupied country to function economically in a natural way. Since it is occupied - and there were other occupations, that I will not discuss now - Lebanon cannot function as a natural economy.

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"Let me give you a quick example. We are not [only] talking about the collapse of the banks, which is not the same as the collapse of the Lebanese pound. The collapse of the banks is the biggest collapse in modern history. The banking system — the Bank of Lebanon and the commercial banks — has collapsed. It is bankrupt, in legal terms and in terms of accounting. Without the slightest doubt - and I have written studies about this - this is the direct result of flawed and criminal fiscal policies.

"This is not to say that there isn’t an indirect cause, that is just as important as this direct reason - the occupation - because the occupation obstructed the oversight bodies. The Lebanese system has numerous oversight bodies, but all of them have failed."

Nawfal Daou: "Occupations usually rule through military force. They usually establish their political systems in a democratic disguise [saying] 'This is the decision of the people that I occupy.' They steal from the people and they steal the national resources in order to fund their occupation — Lebanon's occupation, in this case — just like they do in the occupation of any other country in the world.

"This leads to a third stage — starving the people, to distract the people from demanding freedom and democracy to demanding their daily bread. This is what we are experiencing in Lebanon today, down to the very last detail. Therefore, I and Dr. Kasbar are of the opinion that we are living under occupation. We are not making anything up. Lebanon's political administration, that they call 'state institutions' — in terms of sovereignty, the state of Mahmoud Abbas's self-rule in the West Bank is a lot better than our state here in Lebanon, I am sad to say."