‘Lebanon can’t bear another war with Israel’

Lebanon’s minister of the interior, Nihad Mashnouk, says his country will not be able to bear another war with Israel. Mashnouk assesses that Israel may try to inflame its Syrian front – which extends to south Lebanon – if talks between world powers and Iran on Iran’s nuclear program fail to yield a deal.

According to Mashnouk, who made the comments during an interview with pan-Arab paper Asharq Al-awsat, the citizens of southern Lebanon have still not gotten over the shock of the Second Lebanon War, and the country only recently finished the construction of homes destroyed during that conflict more than eight years ago.

Mashnouk is pessimistic regarding an agreement between Iran and world powers, and believes this will lead to escalation in the region, especially in the Syrian arena.