What’s Britain Doing in Lebanon?

 

As Israel bombards Beirut, we take a look at Britain’s military role in Lebanon.

In his first public speech as chief of MI6 in 2021, Sir Richard Moore said his intelligence agency was “actively focused on Iran”. 

This was part of what he described as a “dramatic change in the security landscape” in which there was “a growing threat from state actors”. 

But alongside Iran, Russia and China as the UK’s demons, he also identified Iran-backed Hezbollah as “a state within a state, contributing directly to state weakness and political turmoil in Lebanon”.

Countering Hezbollah has long preoccupied British planners. The UK has for years pumped money into the Lebanese military to build it up as an alternative national security force to its Iran-backed rival.

Labour ministers, who backed Israel’s assault on Gaza, are now urgently calling for a ceasefire amid the invasion of Lebanon, which could spark a still wider conflagration.

The UK government dispatched 700 troops to Cyprus, ostensibly to prepare for an evacuation of around 10,000 British nationals in Lebanon, with the SAS apparently already on the ground. 

Yet Britain’s military was in Lebanon years before Israel’s invasion. So what’s it been doing there, and why? (more...)

What’s Britain Doing in Lebanon?