strikeMar 18, 2026

"Lebanon regrets taking sides in the U.S.-Iran war": Lebanon’s Ambassador Hadi Jaber to India Today

Summary

"Lebanon regrets taking sides in the U.S.-Iran war": Lebanon's Ambassador Hadi Jaber to India Today As the U.S.-Israel-Iran war expands across the region, Lebanon's Ambassador to India tells India Today Global's Geeta Mohan that Beirut was dragged into a conflict it never chose—now paying the price in lives, displacement, and devastation, while urgently pushing for a ceasefire and direct negotiations under international sponsorship. The widening U.S.-Israel–Iran conflict has engulfed Lebanon in ways its government insists it neither intended nor approved. As Israeli strikes intensify and Hezbollah’s actions pull the country deeper into hostilities, Lebanon is facing one of its gravest humanitarian crises in recent history. In an exclusive conversation with India Today Global’s Senior Executive Editor Geeta Mohan, Lebanese Ambassador Hadi Jaber offers a candid and sobering assessment: Lebanon has been “dragged” into a war not its own, suffering massive civilian casualties, large-scale displacement, and widespread destruction. With over a million people displaced and entire villages in southern Lebanon reduced to rubble, Beirut is now scrambling for an exit. Jaber outlines a four-point peace proposal, calls for international intervention, and admits that Lebanon’s past decisions—including Hezbollah’s actions—have come at a heavy cost. Q: We are seeing buildings destroyed and civilians impacted. How is Lebanon assessing the situation right now? I would like to say that no war is good. Always wars are very bad. However, unfortunately, the war has started without even the will of the Lebanese government. We didn't decide to go into it. We were dragged into it, as you said. Unfortunately, we're suffering. As you know, the Israeli aggression and the destruction that they are doing to Lebanon is very huge. It's taking its... It's tall on the number of martyrs and injuries. You said above 800. Now it has reached 912 martyrs, more than 2,200 injuries. We have more than one million displaced Lebanese. They are leaving their homes, their houses, their lands in the south, because they are going to safer places, to shelters. The destruction is very vast. There are so many villages in the south. They have been destroyed, destructed, and demolished. Many, many houses, buildings demolished completely. We hope that this will come to an end very soon, with the help of the international community. Hopefully, we'll see it very soon. And India, of course, is one of the friendly countries to Lebanon. Q: Lebanon recently moved to ban Hezbollah’s armed wing. How does the government balance this with Hezbollah’s political presence? Actually, Hezbollah had a very important, crucial role in liberating the south of Lebanon until the year 2000. Unfortunately, after that period, Hezbollah still has their independent entity, regardless of the country, of the government. On the eve of March 2nd, Hezbollah has launched six rockets against Israel, without the willing or even informing anybody. And we all know that the effects of a few rockets against Israel will do nothing. It will only entail a huge destruction to Lebanon, knowing that Israel is a very brutal... They have a very brutal arsenal, and we have previous examples, and we have very bad experiences with them. So, we didn't want to go into this war. The government, the cabinet meeting, presided by His Excellency, President of Lebanon. They convened, and they had the decision to outlaw the security and military branch of Hezbollah, because they cannot go on like this decision of gauging a war. The decision of having peace or war should be exclusively done by the state. So, they are not... They consider them illegal. They cannot go on like this. Now, how to came to have this balance? The government was clear. Hezbollah, they are not allowed anymore to perform their operations freely. The Lebanese army tried very, very keenly for the last few months, in order to stop the war. In order to take control of all the storages, the facilities of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. But, unfortunately, what happened now, the war has raged now between Hezbollah and Israel, and the Lebanese government cannot do anything for the time being. All what we can do is calling upon the international community to put restraints also, to put some pressure on Israel, to stop their aggression, and to help us to deal with the issue. The Lebanese army should be supported by the international community so that it will undertake their duties as well. Q: There is concern about a growing refugee crisis. What are the numbers and where are people moving? The vast majority of the people now displaced are, as I told you, over one million. We're talking about 20% of the population of the country. Imagine 20% of the Indian population. Imagine this number. So they're being forced to flee their villages. So far, we cannot see a considerable number of Lebanese crossing the borders. They are being displaced over the territory of Lebanon. The people from the south Lebanon, let's say, and the Dahiyeh, the suburbs of Beirut, they're trying to flee to Beirut, the capital, and other areas in Lebanon, other cities in the north, in the middle of Lebanon. But we don't have a considerable number of Lebanese who are crossing the borders so far. Q: Lebanon has proposed negotiations. What is the status of outreach to Israel and what does the plan include? Actually, His Excellency, the president of Lebanon, he had a virtual meeting with the leaders of the EU and the leaders of Israel. The leaders of the Arab world. Also Turkey and other countries. And they had the... Our president, he put through a plan of four points plan, which is very, very important if it can be implemented. It had actually four points. I may read it so that you may see. Yes, absolutely. The first point is establishing a complete ceasefire, including the cessation of all Israeli land, air, and naval attacks on Lebanon. Point two, rapidly providing necessary logistical support to the Lebanese armed forces. The third, the Lebanese armed forces would immediately take control of the areas of recent tensions, seize all weapons present there, and dismantle Hezbollah's weapons depots and stockpiles, based on the information available to them. The fourth point, which is also very important, simultaneously Lebanon and Israel would begin direct negotiations under international sponsorship to implement the details of these arrangements. Q: Does this proposal open the door for diplomatic ties with Israel? Yes, under international sponsorship. Q: Would this also mean diplomatic ties with Israel? Not for the time being. We don't know. Now we're talking about direct negotiations to see what it takes for the safety of Lebanon. What we care about now is the safety and security of our people, of our land. And we can deem that this is the most important way how to go through this. Because we experienced so many things in the past. We came to a conclusion and to a belief that war will not be good to anybody. But any tango needs to be... If you want to dance a tango, you need two tangos, as they say. So Israel also should understand and should reach a conclusion that maybe at least ceasefire would start a step towards a peaceful end for this conflict. But they need to come to a conclusion, Israel, to stop their attacks against Lebanon, to start these direct talks, as we said, under international sponsorship. Q: Has Hezbollah’s involvement compromised Lebanon’s security and stability? As I said, according to what happened on March 2nd, it was quite very bad, because Lebanon was dragged into this war. And we all know that balance of power is not against us. And we tried this war before many times. And we did not succeed. And we came to a real conclusion that we should not go through wars again, one. And second, especially this war, it has nothing to do with us. Why should we interfere with the war between the US, Israel against Iran? So this is very bad. We feel that it was very negative to interfere in this war. Q: What is Lebanon’s broader reading of the ongoing war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran? As I told you in the beginning, no war is good. Wars are very bad. Now, once you are inside, when you are within this war, you cannot say who is right and who is wrong. Because once the war is on, you cannot tell anymore. The fighting is going on, the sufferings of the people, the civilians. So you cannot just say who is right, who is wrong. Q: Has Lebanese territory been used as a proxy battleground in the Iran-Israel conflict? As I said in the beginning, we should not have been dragged into the war. It's not in the interest of Lebanon to go through this war. Now, you name it whatever you want. But we should not have, it's not in the interest of my country. To be into this war. We should not start any war, we shouldn't have launched any rocket, anything at least. It's not our war. Q: How does Lebanon view Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries amid this conflict? Actually, historically, we have very good relations with the Gulf countries. The GCC, they have been doing very good things. They have been supporting Lebanon tens and ten years ago. We have very excellent relations with them. GCC, they used to help, and they are still helping Lebanon. We have excellent relations. We have tourism from the Gulf areas. We have the investments. We have labour. Lebanese, like around half a million or less, working in the GCC. So there is no agenda between Lebanon and the GCC. We have only brotherly relations. So what we've seen is really surprising. It's not accepted at all what the Iranian regime has done for the harm that's been inflicted on the Gulf areas, Gulf countries. Targeting the Gulf countries' lands is not acceptable by any means, under any pretext. Q: With oil routes disrupted and prices rising, how sustainable is this war economically? It should not stay for too long, certainly. We are longing to have a peace again. It's not in the interest of anybody. The people of all countries are suffering. We hope that this war will end very soon. Now, the economic impact is huge. You can see now the barrel, the oil barrel now, it has reached more than 110, 110, and may go higher. But hopefully it will end very soon. Because if it goes even higher and higher, it will have a huge effect on the economies and India, as you said, the LPG issue and concern is very bad. Q: Has Lebanon received any response from the U.S. or Israel to its outreach and peace proposal? Regarding the our outreach with the Israelis and the U.S., the president, our president, His Excellency has put this initiative, the four points initiative. We're waiting for a certain feedback from Israel and the U.S. So far, we don't have a clear feedback whether they will work on it or not. Hopefully, we'll see it very soon because it's in the interest of all countries, I think, for this. As for the government of India, the as you know, we've been we have had and still hopefully will have this historically brotherly relations are very good relations with India. And we rely on friends like India. They call always for the cessation of the ceasefire and peace. Hopefully they will continue like this and put pressure on all parties as well.

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Geeta MohanBy Geeta Mohan
"Lebanon regrets taking sides in the U.S.-Iran war": Lebanon's Ambassador Hadi Jaber to India Today As the U.S.-Israel-Iran war expands across the region, Lebanon's Ambassador to India tells India Today Global's Geeta Mohan that Beirut was dragged into a conflict it never chose—n…

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SECTIONS Crude oil prices rise ; Iran Reuters