On Wednesday, January 12th, Hizballah and its allies withdrew 11 of their ministers, causing Lebanon’s government to collapse. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri is now a caretaker, and it is unclear what his role will be in the formation of a new government, if any. At the heart of the dispute is the UN’s Special […]
Year in review For Lebanon, 2010 was dominated by the continued investigation into the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri was murdered in February 2005, sparking off massive protests that led to the end of Syria’s 30 year occupation of Lebanon. Since 2007, the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) has been gathering […]
Last Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri flew to Tehran to meet with President Ahmedinejad and other Iranian politicians. The purpose of the visit was to secure support for his country at a particularly tense time in Lebanese history, or at least in Hariri’s tenure as Prime Minister. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which […]
Pressure continues to build in Lebanon in anticipation of indictments in the Hariri tribunal. Members of Hizballah are widely expected to be named in the case, which could ignite mounting tensions between the pro-West March 14 government and the Party of God. The rhetoric coming out of south Beirut has been increasingly threatening. Last week, […]
At a lecture at the Middle Ease Institute several weeks ago, Dr. Thomas O’Donnell described the modern relationship between the United States and Iran. He characterized the struggle between the two as a battle for the hegemony in the Middle East. America is still heavily reliant on petroleum and the Middle East is still the […]
Last week, Prime Minister Hariri publicly dismissed his case against Syria in the assassination of his father. His opinion on the matter carries no formal weight, but for the people of Lebanon, Mr. Hariri’s actions are indeed significant. It was his father that was killed and if he can look past the issue in order […]
The topic of Lebanese arms is in the news once again. Externally, the United States has put on hold $100 million in military aid for fear that the weapons may fall into the hands of Hizballah. Internally, Prime Minister Hariri is talking up elevated arms control in the wake of a sectarian altercation in Beirut […]
Earlier this week, parliament voted to grant Lebanon’s Palestinian population wider employment rights. Previously, the jobs that they were aloud to do were mostly limited to manual labor, but the new legislation opens up every field that other “foreigners” are allowed to work in. This still excludes the areas of law, medicine, and engineering, which […]
If it seems like the pace of events has been accelerating since Hassan Nasrallah announced that he expects Hizballah members to be indicted in the Hariri Tribunal, it has. Immediately, leaders from Saudi Arabia and Syria rushed to Beirut to calm the situation. Shortly after they left town, an Israeli commander was killed by the […]
Just days after Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and Syria’s President Bashar Assad traveled to Beirut to quell the fears that another regional war was just around the corner, fighting broke out between the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) in Southern Lebanon. The trouble started when an Israeli battalion commander was killed […]
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) apparently exchanged fire today in Southern Lebanon. One high-ranking officer was killed on the Israeli side, and at least two soldiers and one journalist, were killed on the Lebanese side. It may be too early for analysis, but it looks like the violence has […]
Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah announced in a press conference Thursday that he expects Hizballah members to be charged in the investigation into the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri, and that as a result, Lebanon was now entering a “very serious phase”. Depending on who is charged within the group, the indictments could be extremely damaging […]
Last Thursday, Parliament introduced legislation that would significantly change the status of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees. The proposal would have increased Palestinian access to employment, social security, and land ownership. A vote on the bill has been pushed back a month to allow time for negotiation and consensus building. It seems that the prospect of Palestinian […]
Thousands of people from all over Lebanon and the Middle East turned out today to mourn the passing of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Fadlallah, who died this past Sunday at the age of 75. The loss is big not only for Lebanon, but for the entire region, as Fadlallah was a highly revered and influential figure in […]
Thousand of people rallied in Beirut this weekend in support of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee population. The demonstrators demanded equal rights for the Palestinians, many of which have lived in Lebanon for generations. Currently, Lebanese Palestinians are restricted in what jobs they can hold, get paid less than Lebanese citizens for doing the same jobs, and […]