Beirut

Hezbollah’s New Leader Naim Qassem Is No Hassan Nasrallah

Hezbollah is trying to keep its head down and recover its strength. As a result, Naim Qassem is providing a more muted leadership than his predecessor.

Hezbollah’s Financial Lifeline Extends Beyond Iran’s Cash Transfers

U.S. sanctions have strained Iran’s finances and disrupted some funding channels to its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Yet sanctions have not eliminated the group’s access to outside funding, including...

IDF shifts southern Lebanon forces toward ‘forward-defense’ posture as troops prepare for winter

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is shifting forces in southern Lebanon toward what Israeli security officials described as a “forward and offensive defense” posture. The officials said the IDF is also...

Who Will Do Lebanon’s Job?

The Trilateral Framework can move forward only after a third party that independently verifies, for Israel, that Lebanon has fulfilled its responsibilities in a pilot zone.

Nasrallah is Dead. Hezbollah’s Social Lifeline is Not.

Two years after Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah is weaker but not finished. WaTaawanou, a crowdfunded charity outside Hezbollah’s formal hierarchy, exemplifies one way Hezbollah endures: outsourcing...

Hezbollah’s Shadow Economy in Post-Assad Syria

Opposing Peace With Israel Helps Preserve Hezbollah’s Power

Lebanese Shia activists claiming to oppose Hezbollah have made their way to Washington, where they met U.S. decision-makers who believed that their guests were advancing peace. The catch is that these...

Lebanon’s Pretend Peace with Israel Revives Arafat’s Playbook

What is the point of strengthening the LAF if internal dialogue is the only tool Beirut intends to use to restore state sovereignty?

8 Questions Facing the United Nations at UNGA 81

The United Nations was formed “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” Yet more armed conflicts rage worldwide today than at any point since the world body’s formation at the end...

Syria’s military is rebuilding, but foreign influence may slow security progress

Foreign influence in the Syrian military, chiefly Turkish and Russian, combined with the continued presence of extremist elements within its ranks, will constrain Damascus’s ability to take steps consistent...

LAF-Hezbollah coordination and the limits of Lebanon’s disarmament effort

Israel assesses with “fairly high probability” that the Lebanese military is coordinating its activity in Lebanon’s disarmament pilot zones with Hezbollah, Israel’s Channel 14 reported on...

Is Hezbollah finished, or just adapting?

Israel Razes Hilltop Hezbollah Stronghold, Securing Buffer Zone in South Lebanon

After a siege lasting nearly three months, Israeli forces are now in control of a strategic hilltop in southern Lebanon dubbed Iran’s “second front” against the Jewish state. The Ali al-Taher...

The UK Sanctions Hezbollah’s Shadow Bank. Lebanon Should Shut It Down.

The United Kingdom has put Hezbollah’s shadow bank in its crosshairs. On September 8, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced sanctions on “Lebanese Hezbollah’s financing arm, al-Qard al-Hassan...

Lebanese Army intensifies Nabatieh deployment as report says mission excludes Hezbollah disarmament

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is reinforcing its presence in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh after several days of intensified Israeli military operations. Lebanon’s Al Modon newspaper reported that...

The cruel awakening of 9/11

A quarter century on, we need to understand what happened and what is still happening

Hezbollah Has Lost. Now It Must Admit It

Let us, for a moment, entertain a thought experiment. What if Hezbollah had gotten its political way? Imagine that in late 2024, after Hezbollah’s resounding military defeat, Lebanon’s Parliament had...

Israel claims control of Ali al Taher after weeks of Hezbollah attacks and failed handover efforts

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on September 3 that its 36th Division had cleared Hezbollah personnel from two underground routes beneath south Lebanon’s Ali al Taher Ridge, the site...

Treasury Sanctioned Palestinian Terror Group Masar Badil. Its Allies Should Be the Next Targets.

Sanctioning a terrorist front accomplishes little if the same network can operate through the work of its allies. On August 26, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)...

Lebanon’s Hezbollah Finance Crackdown May Be Designed to Fail

Lebanon’s campaign against Hezbollah’s finances may be designed to look tougher than it is. Under pressure from Washington and international regulators, Beirut has done enough to claim progress by...