Politicians’ sectarian reference hits raw nerve in the aftermath of explosion
Two Lebanese Christian politicians said their community took the brunt of the destruction after the Beirut port explosion last week, raising sectarian stakes as upheaval engulfed the country.
Lebanon has been divided since the establishment of the Second Republic in 1990, but politicians are rarely so blunt about their religion after violence engulfed most of the country’s 18 officially recognised sects in the civil war.
Samir Geagea and Nadim Gemayel referred in the past few days to Christian East Beirut as having suffered most of the damage from the blast.
The explosion of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate last
Tuesday killed 158 people and injured about 6,000.
It happened as the Hezbollah-aligned government was hit by resignations, and Lebanon faced economic collapse.
Mr Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces Movement and one of Hezbollah’s fiercest critics, on Saturday called the disaster the “Achrafieh explosion”, after the Christian district of the city in which damage was among the heaviest.
Mr Gemayel, one of six members of parliament who resigned in protest at the government’s failures, said “the explosion caused the biggest pain among the Christians”.
“The pain we are feeling is Christian first, Beiruti second and finally Lebanese,” he said on television.
Although Mr Gemayel said he expected the whole of Lebanon to show solidarity with the victims, he emphasised that Beirut’s Christian districts were hit hardest.
Pro-Hezbollah politicians were subdued amid Cabinet resignations that brought down an administration that was the most supportive of the militant party since the end of the civil war.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said he “looks positively” at a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron last week.
In Beirut for a day, Mr Macron floated a political initiative that would allow Lebanon to qualify for long-term aid. Pro-Hezbollah Al Mayadeen Television criticised him for meeting people in the Christian district of Gemayzeh, which is adjacent to the site of the blast.
Al Mayadeen said that Mr Macron should have gone to Shiite-majority districts, although these areas sustained far less damage.
Youssef Bazzi, a veteran Lebanese political commentator, told The National that politicians who tried to capitalise on sectarian sentiment after the explosion were unlikely to gain much support.
Mr Bazzi said Mr Geagea met with a hostile reception from residents when he visited Achrafieh after the explosion to show his solidarity with fellow members of his faith.
“No Christian politician can show his face, whether he is pro- or anti-government, because they are seen as having contributed to the nadir Lebanon has reached,” he said.
Mr Bazzi said Hezbollah had no interest in escalation, because French proposals were unlikely to significantly challenge its dominance over the state, nor its status as the only officially sanctioned armed group in Lebanon.
“Hezbollah is lying low,” Mr Bazzi said. “Playing the sectarian card would bring it little advantage now.”