In Lebanon, where politics intertwines with foreign-driven adventures and national decisions are dictated from outside the State’s authority, the debate over the World Bank’s $250 million loan has resurfaced to expose a stark reality: this is not simply about reconstruction, but about forcing the Lebanese people to bear the cost of destruction they neither caused nor approved.

Parliament is now being asked to approve another debt under the banner of rebuilding. Yet the reality is that none of these funds will be directed toward schools, hospitals, or essential infrastructure to safeguard future generations. Instead, the money will be used to absorb the consequences of a war imposed by Hezbollah; a war in which the Lebanese people had no role and no say.

Approving this loan while illegal weapons remain outside State control means burdening citizens with new financial burdens and condemning them to remain permanent victims of a conflict they never chose. There can be no genuine reconstruction without restoring the State’s sovereignty over decisions of war and peace, with those choices resting solely in the hands of legitimate institutions.

History has already taught Lebanon this bitter lesson. After the civil war, the State failed to rebuild devastated areas, leaving citizens to shoulder the costs alone. Today, the pattern repeats itself in an even harsher form: the latest war was not waged to defend Lebanon, but to serve external interests. Any reconstruction effort without firm guarantees will only reproduce the nation’s ruin to the detriment of citizens who rejected the war from the start.

What Lebanon needs first is an end to reckless ventures that endanger the country, the full assertion of State sovereignty across its territory, the surrender of weapons to the State, and binding assurances that borrowed funds will be spent solely on vital infrastructure—schools, hospitals, and public services—not on repairing the damage of conflicts imposed by an armed faction. Any step taken without such political and security guarantees will simply perpetuate the injustice of making Lebanese citizens pay for policies they neither shaped nor consented to.

Lebanon now stands at a decisive crossroads: either genuine reconstruction under full State authority, or the continued cycle of its people paying the price for unlawful wars and destructive adventures. This is not merely about signing off on a loan; it is a test of national dignity and a matter of protecting the future of generations. The Lebanese people’s stance is clear: they will not pay for a war they did not choose, nor allow their country to remain a permanent hostage to weapons beyond the authority of the State.