Lebanon: Israel Defense Forces Operations

Commons Urgent Question

The following Answer to an Urgent Question was given in the House of Commons on Wednesday 3 June.

“Before I answer the honourable lady’s important Urgent Question, let me say that I am sure the whole House will join me in condemning Iran’s strike on Kuwait International Airport with drones this morning. It was a completely unacceptable attack, which has tragically resulted in multiple injuries and at least one confirmed fatality. We stand in full solidarity with the Government and the people of Kuwait, as well as our partners across the Gulf. I have conveyed my condolences this morning to the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister and his colleagues. We urge Iran to de-escalate immediately and return to meaningful dialogue to secure lasting peace and regional stability.

“Before I answer the honourable lady’s important Urgent Question, let me say that I am sure the whole House will join me in condemning Iran’s strike on Kuwait International Airport with drones this morning. It was a completely unacceptable attack, which has tragically resulted in multiple injuries and at least one confirmed fatality. We stand in full solidarity with the Government and the people of Kuwait, as well as our partners across the Gulf. I have conveyed my condolences this morning to the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister and his colleagues. We urge Iran to de-escalate immediately and return to meaningful dialogue to secure lasting peace and regional stability.

Let me now turn to the issue of Lebanon. The reckless and disproportionate escalation of Israeli military action there has resulted in a devastating situation for Lebanese civilians, killing thousands. At an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Monday, jointly called by the United Kingdom, we firmly condemned the actions of the Government of Israel and called for a genuine and lasting ceasefire. We also condemned Lebanese Hezbollah’s ongoing attacks against Israel, including the attacks on Israeli northern communities. They have faced a repeated barrage of missiles and drones.

Lebanese Hezbollah is a proscribed organisation. At Iran’s instigation, it has dragged Lebanon into a war that its Government and its people do not want. It does not speak or act for the people of Lebanon. It must end these attacks and disarm. I condemn the recent comments by Hezbollah’s leadership, seeking to destabilise the Government of Lebanon within their own country.

In April, I visited Beirut to show our support for the Government and the people of Lebanon, and saw the impact of this military escalation at first hand. In the south, on a previous visit, I saw the devastating impact on civilian communities—villages razed to the ground—and I was pleased to be able to hand over tangible support to the Lebanese armed forces. Since April, conditions for civilians have only worsened. More than 3,000 people have been killed and more than 1 million have been displaced, with civilian homes and infrastructure destroyed. We believe that one-quarter of the population of Lebanon is now displaced. Displacement means families fleeing from their homes, not knowing what they will return to. It means ever greater strain on hospitals and clinics. It means civilians sleeping in tents by the roadside. It means thousands of children—some of whom I met—not being able to go to school, and the spread of disease even among the youngest. That is why a ceasefire, properly observed by the parties, is so urgent.

While I was in Lebanon, I announced a commitment of an additional £20 million in humanitarian support, particularly for those displaced by the conflict, making the UK one of the largest international humanitarian donors to those affected by this man-made crisis. I also met President Aoun, as well as with other members of the Lebanese leadership. His Government are taking courageous steps, setting out an unprecedented commitment to tackling Hezbollah, and have made the case for direct diplomacy with the Government of Israel. The people of both Lebanon and Israel deserve to live in peace and security”.

Over the weekend since the original Statement, Iran has launched ballistic missiles at Israel. Israel has since responded with retaliatory strikes against Iran. Of course, we all want to see peace in the Middle East, and the Prime Minister is right to call for a return to a ceasefire, but can the Minister please reassure the House that His Majesty’s Government will always recognise Israel’s right to self-defence? Secondly, over the course of the passage of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 last Session, your Lordships’ House voted three times to proscribe the IRGC. The EU has proscribed the IRGC, as has Australia. Can the Minister tell us why this country has not?

My Lords, of course I can assure noble Lords that Israel has the right to defend itself. We have said so consistently. We are extremely disturbed—noble Lords will have noticed this in the language we have used in recent days—about the actions taken in Lebanon. We completely understand the need to deal with Hezbollah, and we think that that is best done through the Government of Lebanon. It is really difficult to understand how the actions in recent days would bring about an end to Hezbollah. The noble Lord’s Government were in place for 14 years and had the opportunity to legislate to deal with the issue of the IRGC. This Government have committed to doing so, and we will as soon as we can.

My Lords, I remind the House of my frequent visits to Lebanon over the last number of years, delivering a project supporting women to stand for municipal and parliamentary elections in the very areas where they have been under threat from Hezbollah over many years, so I have no sympathy with Hezbollah whatever. But one of the consequences of these yellow lines, if they are enforced, is the risk that Hezbollah will become active in areas of Lebanon other than where they are at the moment. My question to the Minister specifically concerns the areas being depopulated. The UK has over the last number of years has spent more than £117 million supporting the Lebanese armed forces’ capacity in the very areas the IDF now considers to be yellow zones. What is the current UK support for the Lebanese armed forces, and will we have any ongoing relationship in these areas?

First, I commend the noble Lord’s work with women and girls in Lebanon. It is vital that we continue this work, and two weeks ago I was able to meet the Lebanese Minister for social affairs, who is an outstanding woman leader in Lebanon. Our support for the Lebanese army continues, and it is the right way to support Lebanon in defeating Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation. We support the aim of getting rid of Hezbollah, but it has to be done by strengthening the state and the Government of Lebanon.

My Lords, does the Minister have any sympathy for the people of northern Israel, who have been under constant bombardment from Hezbollah? Given that Hezbollah has made it absolutely clear that it has no interest in a peace settlement, is not the reality that unless Israel deals with Hezbollah, nobody will?

I want to be absolutely clear about this: I have complete sympathy with the people who have been displaced and harmed and who are living in the fear the noble Lord talks about—of course I do, as does everybody else in this Government. It is important and essential that we rid Lebanon of Hezbollah. How we do that is not by razing whole villages to the ground and by killing 3,500 civilians and over 100 health workers. I do not see how the aims Israel says it has—aims that we all share, of ridding the world of Hezbollah—are met through that action.

My Lords, I too condemn Hezbollah’s actions in northern Israel, but I am very grateful to my noble friend the Minister for what she has said about how this problem should be dealt with. Some 20% of the population of Lebanon has been displaced—well over a million people—and thousands have been injured and hundreds killed. This kind of aggressive action by the IDF and the Israeli Government cannot be the best way of securing a long-term solution to the problems Lebanon, its Government and many of its civilians are facing. Will the Minister therefore also say a bit more about what policies the Government are now following to try to get disengagement on both sides—Iran as well as Israel—so that a long-term solution can be found to the terrible problems the Lebanese are suffering?

The first thing we need, as has been agreed previously but needs to be restated, is cessation of the violence we currently see. Where we have a role in that, we play it, as do others, including the United States. As far as our policies go, we are continuing to provide additional humanitarian support to the now one million-plus displaced people, and we have just had to allocate an additional £30 million to this effort because of the ongoing conflict. But I repeat that the right way to deal with Hezbollah—the only way, in the end, that is going to be a sustainable solution to this—is to strengthen the Government of Lebanon and the armed forces there to enable them to do this in a way that lasts.

My Lords, is it not an idea to offer some rather candid advice to our Israeli friends about the inner nature of Lebanon and the vast distinction between the Hezbollah structure—which is like a poisonous spider, poisoning every aspect of Lebanese affairs, including its politics—and the good people of Lebanon, who are friendly, have fought difficult wars in the past, have many different religions and are very supportive of our values and of this nation? Israel has some techniques which it has used for undermining the Hezbollah position very effectively, but its approach, which is to drop more bombs on everybody, including southern Beirut, is not the way forward. Dare we say that, in polite terms, because some of us know Lebanon very well, and Israel is doing it wrong?

I think that we are making many of the points that the noble Lord outlines, directly and publicly, and noble Lords will have seen the moves we have made at the Security Council recently as well. In essence, I completely agree with the noble Lord, and the people of Lebanon themselves are the ones who have really borne the brunt of having to suffer living alongside Hezbollah for so long.