Holding back tears, Mikati, one of the richest men in the country, said he recognized the pain of Lebanese mothers who cannot feed their children or find aspirin to ease their ailments, as well as to students whose parents can no longer afford to send them to school.
“The situation is difficult but not impossible to deal with if we cooperate,” Mikati told reporters at the presidential palace, where the new government line-up was announced.
Still, their pain was apparently not enough to accept aid from Israel.
Asked during a press conference if he would be willing to cooperate with Syria to address the economic crisis, Mikati responded that the government “will deal with anyone for the sake of Lebanon’s interest, with the exception of Israel, of course.”
Israel had formally offered humanitarian aid to Lebanon in July, Defense Minister Benny Gantz said.
Citing what it said were efforts by the Hezbollah terror group to bring Iranian funds to Lebanon, a statement from Gantz’s office said the Israel Defense Forces’ Liaison Unit relayed the offer through UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
Israel and Lebanon do not have diplomatic relations. The Israeli military and Iran-backed Hezbollah, which holds sway over state decision-making in Lebanon and denies Israel’s right to exist, fought a devastating war in 2006.
From 1982 to 200, Israel occupied a strip of southern Lebanon — totaling about 10 percent of Lebanese territory — in order to defend northern Israel from terrorist attacks.
Last year, Israel also offered humanitarian assistance after a massive blast at Beirut’s port killed over 200 people, but was rebuffed. READ MORE
