Time to Cut the Cord in Lebanon
Don’t pop the champagne corks yet. While there is certainly reason to cheer for the termination of the bloody terrorist leadership of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel’s military strikes in and around Beirut...
Gebran Bassil
Presidential Vacuum Persists in Lebanon
The term of Lebanese President Michel Aoun ended last week, but the country’s parliament has so far failed to elect a successor. The presidential vacuum, which compounds Lebanon’s political and economic problems, persists because Iranian proxy Hezbollah, the dominant political force in Lebanon, has yet to choose a president from among its two main Christian allies: Aoun’s son-in-law, Gebran Bassil, and Suleiman Franjieh, a grandson of Lebanon’s fifth president, also named Suleiman Franjieh. Hezbollah fears that favoring one means losing the support of the other.
Flash Briefs
Lebanon Has an Opposition Movement Again
A new coalition could check—or even dislodge—Hezbollah and its iron grip.
Op-eds
The Name of the Lebanese Play? The Aristocrats!
The country’s recent election was a masterpiece of counterfactual Kabuki theater—and there wasn’t a dry Western eye in the house
Op-eds
Lebanon’s ‘useless’ election will be neither free nor fair
Hezbollah coercion has occurred in the weeks and months leading up to this Sunday’s vote
Op-eds
Lebanon’s New Hezbollah Government
After a year of political bickering among Lebanon’s sectarian chieftains, Hezbollah determined that the time had come for a new government to arise. By now, it should be clear to all observers that...
Op-eds
The EU’s Flawed Framework for Sanctions on Lebanon
The Council of the European Union announced on July 30 that it has adopted a framework that “provides for the possibility of imposing sanctions against persons and entities who are responsible for undermining...
Policy Briefs
Does The US Need A Lebanon Policy?
The season of offering advice to the next administration is upon us once more. When it comes to American policy toward Lebanon, the purveyors of advice are faced with two key questions. The first question...
Op-eds
Lebanon Is Protecting Hezbollah’s Cocaine Trade in Latin America
Days after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, Washington ramped up ...
Op-eds
Lebanese PM Saad Hariri Joins With Hezbollah to Con Donald Trump
The day after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri met ...
Op-eds
Distinction between Hezbollah and the “Lebanese State” now Meaningless
At the conclusion of President Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, the U.S. and the Saudis issued a...
Policy Briefs
Hezbollah’s Farcical Media Tour at the Israel-Lebanon Border
Last Thursday, Hezbollah organized a tour for journalists along the border with Israel, where the Iranian proxy highlighted the various topographical alterations the IDF...
Op-eds
Hezbollah’s Latest Conquest: Lebanon’s Cabinet
In late December, Lebanon’s parliament swore in a new cabinet dominated by Hezbollah and its partners in the pro-Syrian March 8 Alliance. For the Shiite group, this was a political victory...
Op-eds
Bigotry Behind The Cassock
Last week, an indignant audience including prelates and leaders of the Eastern Christian churches, ...
Op-eds
Moscow’s Interests in Assad
With the Obama administration adamantly opposed to integrating a military component into its Syria policy, the debate on what to do next continues to revolve around possible diplomatic options. I...