Lebanon: Israel Defense Forces Operations

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Monday 8th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

International law applies to everyone, and territorial integrity matters everywhere. We are about to discuss a UQ on Ukraine, and I think the same applies. Things such as the raising of the flag at Beaufort Castle do not help; they raise tensions and weaken the Government of Lebanon. It is that Government we need to be strengthened in order to deal with this situation.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

The noble Baroness says that the only answer is to finance the Lebanese Government and the Lebanese army. This has been tried for years and has not been successful. The only successful way of dealing with, in effect, Iran in Lebanon through Hezbollah, is through military action. At what point do the British Government stop spending British taxpayers’ money helping the Lebanese Government, and, instead, allow the IDF to finish the job?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

With respect, I fundamentally disagree with the noble Lord. I wonder what he means by “finish the job”, given what we are seeing and the numbers of civilians who have been killed. Over three and a half thousand civilians, including children, have been killed indiscriminately. I could, perhaps, understand a targeted action. There would be questions about that too, but what we are seeing now is wrong.