Hagop Pakradouni, the ARF’s Central Committee Representative in Lebanon, believes a wider Mid-East war is a distinct possibility given that the West is reluctant to reign in Israel.

Lebanese MP Pakradouni tells Hetq that one million Lebanese have been displaced due to Israeli military operations in the country that Tel Aviv claims are targeting Hezbollah positions along the Lebanon-Israel border and elsewhere in the country.

Israel’s escalated offensive in Lebanon has killed over 1,300 people since it began on September 17, according to a CNN tally.

Yesterday, half an hour before our interview, Israel bombed the southern and eastern suburbs of Beirut.  

Pakradouni says there is no area in Lebanon that can be described as “completely safe”.

Pakradouni notes that although Israel claims it’s targeting Hezbollah military targets, the reality is different. "The reality is that it is a full-scale war to destroy what is standing and to create an internal imbalance in Lebanon to the greatest extent," he says.

“They even targeted Christian villages far from Beirut, where the family of one of the leaders of Hezbollah was allegedly located," says Pakradouni, adding that there are no significant initiatives by the international community to end the war, only political statements.

"Israel enjoys a state of permissiveness. Both the U.S. and the West not only understand what Israel has done, but also give it the right, saying that what it has done is self-defense,” he says.

Pakradouni says the Armenian regions of Lebanon are not specifically targeted, and there are no casualties.

"But we are also in Lebanon, and when the southern or other regions of Beirut are bombed, the Armenian-populated regions rumble," he says. There is also a flow of internally displaced persons to the Armenian-inhabited city of Anjar, where the Armenians provided necessary assistance to the people.

"First of all, this is a humanitarian issue. What you see in Gaza, is also playing out in Lebanon today," says Pakradouni.

The war is bringing new economic challenges to Lebanon, which is already economically weakened.

"We were in a very bad economic situation in the past years. Lebanon's infrastructure is not ready to deal with one million refugees. Businesses have been destroyed, daily trade has decreased, prices have risen. Let's not forget that abuses and corruption play their role in the aggravation of this situation," says Pakradouni

Local Armenian community representatives are in daily contact with the Armenian Embassy in Beirut. Despite rumors about evacuating Armenian citizens, no such decision has yet been taken.

"There is concern about what the end will be, but sentiments to leave the country are not significant," Pakradouni tells Hetq.

The ARF believes Lebanese-Armenians should relocate to Armenia if the situation becomes untenable.

If this occurs, Pakradouni says he expects the Armenian government to facilitate their entry in a timely and appropriate manner so that they don’t feel like immigrants in the homeland.

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