Lebanese Journalist Noufal Daou: If Beirut Is Rebuilt Only For Hizbullah To Take Over, We Would Rather Leave It In Ruins

Lebanese journalist Noufal Daou said in a September 20, 2020 interview on MTV (Lebanon) that Lebanon would gratefully accept French President Emmanuel Macron's help in rebuilding Lebanon and its economy but only if Hizbullah is disarmed. He elaborated that if Lebanon is going to be rebuilt only to be taken over by Hizbullah, then he would rather leave Lebanon in ruins.

Noufal Daou: "Macron is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, and it is his business to see how Resolutions 1559 and 1791 can be implemented, and how to restore Lebanon's sovereignty and independence. If, as a follow up, he would like to see how he can help us economically and politically, we would be grateful. If he can help us implement the French model in Lebanon, we would be grateful.

"But if he comes only to tell us how he wants to give us sugar and rice and that he wants to offer scholarships to our students and rebuild our hospitals – we would still be grateful, but we do not want all this so long as Hizbullah keeps its weapons. Let it stay ruined. If Beirut is rebuilt only so that Hizbullah can take over it, we do not want it to be rebuilt. I am telling you that if it is going to be like it was, in the past, when we rebuilt [Beirut] and then the Syrians took over, and today we will rebuild it so that the Iranians take over – let them take it in ruins.

[...]

"[Beirut] had been rebuilt and then the Syrians stole it, and eventually they put Prime Minister [Rafic Hariri] in a hole in the ground near St. Georges Hotel. If we rebuild Beirut following the August 4 blast only so that Hizbullah can take it over with its weapons and rule the country, we would rather not have it rebuilt."