For most Lebanese, the aspiration for a sovereign state — one that controls its own borders, its own army, and its own decisions on war and peace — has remained out of reach for decades. At a panel hosted by the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., Lebanese MP Michel Moawad, alongside Ambassador David Hale and Dr. Saleh El Machnouk, made the case that this moment may be different. That the conditions for genuine sovereignty have, for the first time in a generation, begun to align.

The panel — “Lebanon Between War and Diplomacy” — drew on the degradation of Hezbollah’s military and political power, the emergence of independence-minded leadership in Beirut, and the collapse of Iranian intimidation as the regional backdrop for what Moawad described as a “historic opportunity.” The discussion was moderated by Dr. Fadi Nicholas Nassar, a Senior Fellow at MEI who spent years working on the ground in Lebanon through its financial collapse, the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, and the Hezbollah-Israel conflict.

The following are Moawad’s own words, shared on X following the event and his speech at the René Moawad Foundation.

Posting on X after the panel, Moawad described the exchange as “a frank and insightful discussion on Lebanon’s future,” writing: “Lebanon stands at a crossroads: between existential threats and a historic opportunity; between war and peace; between a never-ending proxy battleground and a sovereign state; between corruption and reform. Now more than ever, the choices we make will define what comes next.”

The broader context, as the MEI panel framed it, is one where Iranian intimidation and Hezbollah’s use as a proxy in the Levant have been the primary impediments to Lebanese sovereignty for decades. The IDF’s degradation of Hezbollah’s leadership and power, combined with the emergence of independence-minded leaders in Beirut, has finally — for the first time — brought true sovereign control within reach. The Lebanese government’s move toward state-to-state talks with Israel, panelists argued, is not a concession. It is the basic act of a responsible state putting its people’s lives and livelihoods first.

In a separate address at the René Moawad Foundation, Moawad traced Lebanon’s political crisis to its structural roots. Since 2019, he argued, Lebanon has been “crushed under burdens that no state could bear” — financial collapse, COVID, the Beirut port explosion, and then two devastating wars that Hezbollah dragged the country into. “Lebanon returned, once again, as a battlefield for others’ conflicts, on its soil and at the expense of its people.”

His political battle, as he defined it, is unambiguous: establish a sovereign state with a monopoly over arms and over decisions of war and peace. One army. No militias. A path toward peace and structural reforms to rebuild the state from the ground up.

But Moawad was equally emphatic about a second, parallel battle — one for Lebanon’s social fabric. He rejected the “unacceptable conflation” between Hezbollah and the Shia sect, calling for a politics that refuses hatred and preserves Lebanon’s defining character: “freedom, pluralism, openness, and a middle class resisting extinction.”

Moawad used the Foundation address to detail the humanitarian and development work sustaining Lebanese communities through the crisis — framing it not as charity but as direct defence of Lebanese land and identity.

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  Supporting the displaced

  10,000 people across 21 shelters and private homes since the outbreak of the last war, receiving food, water, education, and psychological support — in partnership with UN agencies and international donors, in full coordination with the state.
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  Standing firm in the south

  Support for communities who chose to remain in the south under extreme hardship — because, as Moawad put it, “leaving may mean no return.” Supporting them is not merely humanitarian; it is a direct defense of Lebanon’s land and identity.
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  Healthcare: MEDCHRONIC program

  Care secured for 500 hospital patients; chronic medication for more than 4,000 patients monthly; a home healthcare program in development.

Moawad closed with a vision of the Lebanon these efforts are building toward: “Lebanon of sovereignty and freedom, Lebanon of opportunities and hope and human dignity — a Lebanon that its sons choose… and remain rooted in.”