Lebanon

The Scud missile scandal of two weeks ago has turned into the M600 scandal of today. Does Israel really believe these accusations? Is Syria really smuggling these weapons to Hizballah? And if so, what does it mean for the future of the Levant? While the prospect of Hizballah actually obtaining Scuds is discussed here, these […]

There have been at least two odd scenes in Beirut over  the last couple of weeks. The first was a soccer game played by MPs which was supposed to demonstrate cross-sectarian cooperation, and the second was a fairly large march & rally whose participants called for a more secular Lebanon. Both events reflect the sentiment […]

Author’s note: a previous version of this article appeared on the MEA website. Israeli officials claimed last Thursday that they had intelligence indicating that Syria has been arming Hizballah with SCUD missiles. If so, it would mark a significant departure  for Hizballah in terms of military strategy and weapons capability. Now, nothing should come as […]

As Iraq enters its post-parliamentary election phase, the situation resembles that which Lebanon faced after its own parliamentary elections last June. The two countries have much in common and it might be useful to compare them. Their Shia Iraq and Lebanon have similar heterogeneous sectarian breakdowns. For Lebanon, the Shia, Sunni, and Christians represent the […]

There has been a game afoot since President Obama took office last January. While much has been made of Obama’s sweeping domestic agenda, his foreign policy ideas are no less ambitious. In the end, his foreign and domestic agendas are closely related, as the goal of both is to protect and improve America. In the […]

On Valentine’s Day 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed as his motorcade traveled near the Beirut seaside. To date, Hariri’s killers have yet to be identified, and like many other high-profile cases in the this part of the world, it might never happen. After Hariri’s death, the United Nations Security Council set […]

The annual Arab League summit is being held this year in Libya, and Lebanon’s attendance at the meeting is doubtful. Libya and Lebanon have been at odds since the highly influential Imam Musa Sadr went missing on a 1978 visit to Tripoli. Many Lebanese blame Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for Sadr’s disappearance,  and tensions between […]

While Lebanon worries about another attack from Israel, two other issues have been consistently popping up on the radar: the question of Hizballah’s arms, and the prospect of ending sectarianism. Not surprisingly, the three are closely related. — During the run-up to the 2009 parliamentary elections in Lebanon, a cloud of anxiety blanketed the country. […]

Israel seems to be facing something that it might not have expected in its war of words with its neighbors: unity. And it looks like some nations of the Middle East are hanging together in the face of Israeli aggression instead of hanging alone, which has often been the tradition in the past. Falling far […]

After the fall of Saddam Hussein, the United States found itself battling a tough and stubborn Shiite insurgency. This resistance was led by a young militant named Muqtada al-Sadr, and before long, Middle East analysts and scholars began drawing comparisons to another Shiite resistance leader, Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah. Before the US-led invasion of 2003,  the […]

This Valentine’s Day will mark the fifth anniversary of Rafik Hariri’s death. The former Prime Minister and 22 others were killed in an explosion near the Beirut seaside on February 14, 2005. Hariri is often described as a strangely popular, larger-than-life figure in Lebanon. Making his fortune in business, Hariri’s popularity extended across sectarian lines. […]

These are good days for Lebanon. The country is relatively stable, stocks are up, and the tourists are back. The government is semi-functional, business is booming, and construction is everywhere. The people of Lebanon are showing the world what they are capable of when their country is not at war. But many Lebanese are fearful […]