Syria in Lebanon Preeminent influence in Lebanon, both on the central government and between the various factions, is critical for Syria from defensive and offensive strategic perspectives, whatever one considers Syria’s role to be in the pan-Arab arena or in the Arab-Israeli conflict. From the defensive perspectiv William Harris • 15 min read
MER Article Reflections on a Village in Time of War It is easy to talk about “then.” The “now” is far more difficult. Memories confronted with that “now” take on a sense of fantasy and unease. A strange light is shed over the inner landscape by the changes in the outer. Since I speak of Lebanon, the light is also lurid. I am not sure what shadows it Michael Gilsenan • 17 min read
MER Article A Lebanon Primer Lebanon is a microcosm of the peoples, cultures and religions found in the Middle East region as a whole. Under Ottoman rule from the 16th century until World War I, that province of mountainous eastern Syria known as Mt. Lebanon was home and refuge for various religious and ethnic communities. Leba Tom Russell • 8 min read
MER Article Roots of the Shi'i Movement Many saw the Shi‘i revolt in west Beirut and its southern suburbs in February 1984 as the sudden and unexpected mass uprising of a rapidly expanding social group in the midst of a tumultuous religious revivalism. But the February uprising was a significant social movement, with roots in the profound Salim Nasr • 24 min read
MER Article "People are suffering tremendously" Dan Connell, a contributing editor to this magazine, is executive director of Grassroots International, a relief agency working in Lebanon and the Horn of Africa. Jim Paul spoke with him in New York on June 17, 1985. James Paul • 9 min read
MER Article The War of the Camps, the War of the Hostages June 19,1985. In Beirut, TWA flight 847 stands desolate on the empty tarmac, a huge hulk of white metal shimmering in the heat, a picture off the cover of some bungled tourism brochure. Some 40 Americans are unwilling guests in the southern shantytowns known as the “suburbs” of Beirut. More than a h Joe Stork • 14 min read
MER Article Adnan, Sitt Marie Rose Etel Adnan, Sitt Marie Rose (trans. Georgina Kleege) (Sausalito, CA: Post-Apollo Press, 1982). Lee OBrien • 5 min read
MER Article Randal, Going All the Way Jonathan Randal, Going All the Way: Christian Warlords, Israeli Adventurers and the War in Lebanon (New York: Viking Press, 1983). Eric Rouleau • 6 min read
MER Article George Hawi, Problems of Strategy, Errors of Opposition CRITICISM AND DEFEAT: AN INTRODUCTION TO GEORGE HAWI A secondary objective of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon was to strike at the forces of the Arab left, which since 1967 had made Beirut their intellectual and, in many cases, operational center. Israel did not fully achieve this objective, just as i (Author not identified) • 20 min read
MER Article Campaign of Terror On September 17, 1981, a car booby-trapped with 300 kilograms of TNT exploded in front of the Joint Forces headquarters in Sidon, killing 21 people and wounding 96. Within the next three days, three other serious explosions occurred throughout Lebanon: a bomb in the grounds of a cement factory in Sh Lee OBrien • 12 min read
MER Article Report from Lebanon I flew into Beirut on May 17. As we descended over the city, what struck me was the many patches of vacant land, obvious gaps in the space of urban lives, large empty lots of red clay with milliards of glass and metal shards and slivers, glinting in the brilliant morning sun. Approaching the airport Joe Stork • 37 min read
MER Article Sharon and Eitan After Sabra and Shatila Ariel Sharon: “These Years Have Been Exciting” What is your assessment of the week? Victory, defeats, the end of a career, of an ambition? You can make the assessment yourself; there is no doubt that it was tough, but the fact is that I am still a government member. Is that so important? Very im (Author not identified) • 3 min read
