Connelly: Hizbullah Violation of Baabda Declaration Undermines Lebanese State

Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on Monday warned that Hizbullah's military intervention in Syria is undermining the Lebanese state, calling for the formation of a “respectable, competent government.”

During a farewell luncheon thrown in her honor by the American Chamber of Commerce, Connelly said she leaves “worried that the current political impasse has compromised the institutions of the state, primarily to serve the interests of Hizbullah and its Iranian sponsor.”

“I am afraid this trend will lead Lebanon down a dangerous path. Hizbullah has repeatedly demonstrated its contempt for international norms of behavior, which most recently resulted in the EU designation,” she added.

Connelly noted that Hizbullah “is also now showing contempt for the Lebanese rules of the game,” adding that “its violation of the Baabda Declaration undermines the Lebanese state and risks moving Lebanon from having to contend with spillover effects from Syria to outright involvement in a wider Syrian conflict.”

She hoped that the business community as well as others in the country “will act decisively to protect Lebanon.”

“One first step is to insist on the formation of a respectable, competent government. Another step is to get to work on an acceptable electoral law that allows for elections as soon as is practical,” Connelly went on to say.

The European Union has recently designated Hizbullah's so-called military wing as a “terrorist” organization.

Hizbullah's key support has helped the Syrian regime recapture the strategic town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border and recently the Homs neighborhood of Khaldiyeh.

In the wake of the Qusayr battle, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his group “will be where it needs to be" in Syria which is facing a “very, very dangerous conspiracy.”

Nasrallah had previously justified the group's involvement in Syria by saying it was defending Lebanese-inhabited border villages inside Syria and Shiite holy sites in the Damascus province.

But during a May 25 speech Nasrallah warned that "if Syria falls in the hands of the Takfiris and the United States, the resistance will become under a siege and Israel will enter Lebanon."