BEIRUT — If Lebanon was not a “corrupt state,” its students would have long ago shut down the den of “diplomatic occupation” masquerading as the American Embassy in Awkar, just as Iranian students did in 1979 when they stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and declared a second revolution to defend their nation’s dignity.

On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students confronted American arrogance head-on, detaining 52 spies posing as “diplomats” in an embassy that had functioned as a command center for counterrevolutionary operations.

Their action was not recklessness but a living embodiment of the slogan “Neither East nor West”—a rejection of domination and a declaration of sovereign will.
Lebanon today stands at the opposite pole of that moment. Its universities, once centers of liberation thought, have become training grounds for embassy-funded “civil society” projects.

The American “spy den” in Awkar operates unchallenged. It is now a central hub for political, media, and even judicial manipulation. From airport inspections to government formation, the embassy’s shadow stretches across every aspect of Lebanese life.

This is no ordinary diplomatic compound. 90,000 square meters of fortified concrete conceal intelligence facilities, data centers, and coordination halls where Washington’s “soft war” on Lebanon is designed and deployed. Awkar is the Beirut version of Baghdad’s Green Zone, except it speaks the language of “freedom” and “aid.”

Ironically, the man calling Lebanon a “corrupt state” is none other than U.S. envoy Thomas Barrack, a product of the same imperial system that built Lebanon’s financial and political rot. 

Speaking at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain on Thursday, Barrack derided Lebanon’s leaders as “dinosaurs,” mocked its institutions, and declared that the country cannot meet Washington’s demand to disarm Hezbollah. 

Barrack lamented the “chaos” of 40 years, yet ignored Washington’s own fingerprints on every phase of Lebanon’s instability—from post-Taif debt traps to the Central Bank’s collapse, and the ongoing financial war orchestrated by banker Antoun Sehnaoui, a figure closely linked to Israel’s economic lobby in Washington.

Yemen offers another lesson

When Yemenis rose in 2014, they discovered that the U.S. embassy in Sana’a was an operational command for the CIA and Marines, directing ministers, policies, and media alike. 

Following the success of September 21st Revolution, the embassy’s agents fled, leaving behind evidence of the deep American penetration of the Yemeni state. Since then, even under war and siege, Yemen has reclaimed the essence of freedom; that is to say sovereignty unshackled from embassy dictates.

How the free people of Lebanon envy the free people of Iran and Yemen! 

They envy those who dared to topple the American idol, while Lebanon hides behind hollow slogans of “sovereignty.” They envy those who embraced hardship for dignity, while Lebanon clings to false prosperity built on humiliation.

Freedom, in today’s Lebanon, is a word emptied of meaning. It is reshaped by Washington’s lexicon. It attacks the resistance while tolerating foreign occupation. It allows American military attachés to inspect Beirut Airport but bans humanitarian flights from friendly nations. It accepts U.S. bulldozers digging near military zones, yet silences its own army.

This is not freedom—it is guardianship in disguise. Until the Lebanese rediscover their courage Lebanon will remain a laboratory for foreign control.

It is time for Lebanon’s youth to reclaim the narrative. The battle is not only against the Zionist regime of Israel, but also against the hand that moves it. The American embassy’s influence in Lebanon exceeds every diplomatic boundary.

Closing the Awkar spy den would be more than symbolic; it would mark the rebirth of sovereignty. A country unable to confront U.S. interference cannot claim to be free or democratic.

If Lebanon were truly free, it wouldn’t need lectures from Washington.