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 […]
As tensions between Hizballah and Israel continue to put Lebanon on edge, the rhetoric coming from Israel is decidedly mixed. Recently, a senior Israeli minister commented that another war with Hizballah is “inevitable” but that he didn’t know when it would happen. On the surface, this may sound unnecessarily inflammatory given the situation, but then […]
The Lebanese government recently issued a policy statement that declared Hizballah’s arms to be a legitimate part of the country’s defenses. In 2006, Hizballah managed to repel an attack from Israel, albeit one that the Party itself had incited. Still, many Lebanese view Israel as the biggest external threat to their safety and national security, […]
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s recent three day visit to Ankara to meet with his Turkish counterpart symbolizes both the emergence of Hariri out from under the shadow of his father’s legacy, as well as Turkey’s emergence as a major diplomatic player in the Middle East. Rafik Hariri was a self-made billionaire with friends in […]
The United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) was established in December 1949 to aid the people who had been displaced by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. UNRWA was supposed to be a temporary fix to deal with the newly minted “Palestinian Refugees”, a term which the world became quite familiar in the following sixty years. Camps […]
Lebanon has undergone some significant changes in the past six months. The pro-Western March 14 coalition narrowly triumphed in the surprisingly peaceful June parliamentary elections; after some intense political wrangling, a cabinet was formed that was acceptable to most; and recently Lebanon’s Prime Minister has been on the move garnering support for his country and […]
Reporting for the Middle East Political and Economic Institute, Foreign Policy Association blogger Manuela Paraipan brings us an exclusive interview with Aram Nerguizian, resident Middle East and North Africa scholar with the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at Center for Strategic and Security Studies (CSIS). Please visit the MEPEI website to access the interview […]
Reporting for the Middle East Political and Economic Institute, Foreign Policy Association blogger Manuela Paraipan brings us an exclusive interview with Former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Please visit the MEPEI website to access the interview in audio/pdf format and to check out other interviews by Manuela Paraipan. By Manuela Paraipan, Middle East Political and […]
Reporting for the Middle East Political and Economic Institute, Foreign Policy Association blogger Manuela Paraipan brings us an exclusive interview with Former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. Please visit the
This week, Lebanon’s new cabinet issued its policy statement regarding Hizballah. With some strong reservations from a handful of Christian leaders, the cabinet came out in support of Hizballah’s continued military presence in Lebanon as a resistance to Israel. There are at least two reasons for this. First, Hizballah is the force most capable of […]
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak reiterated on Tuesday his nation’s grim warning that Israel will hold all of Lebanon accountable for the actions of Hizballah. The statement came the day before the newly formed Lebanese cabinet was to make an announcment regarding the government’s official stance on Hizballah’s weapons. On Wednesday, it was declared by […]
The week-old Lebanese government has made it clear that it has no intention of taking up the subject of Hizballah’s arms until the distant future. For now, the matter has been relegated to the abstract and ambiguous category as being part of the “national dialogue”. This is a polite way for the new Hariri government […]
After five months of fierce negotiations, Lebanon finally has a cabinet. Prime Minister Rafik Hariri announced Monday that the final details had been worked out and that parties had a come to an agreement. Lebanon’s deep sectarian divides provided ample obstacles during the negotiation process, but many thought that the biggest barriers to a national […]