Current Analysis

Capturing the Complexity of Lebanon’s Civil War and Its Legacies

The current political and economic crises in Lebanon reveal the myriad ways that the Lebanese continue to deal with the effects of the 1975–1990 civil war. Najib Hourani explores MERIP's deep coverage of Lebanon since the early 1970s. He finds that "MERIP’s commitment to foregrounding local social s

Najib Hourani • 9 min read

MER Article

Understanding Race and Migrant Domestic Labor in Lebanon

The dire financial and political crises in Lebanon have made migrant domestic workers even more vulnerable to abuses of the kafala system of sponsorship. Kassamali explains the history of this labor system in Lebanon and the intersecting roles of race, class, nationality and gender in the hierarchie

Sumayya Kassamali • 12 min read

Current Analysis

Understanding Race and Migrant Domestic Labor in Lebanon

The dire financial and political crises in Lebanon have made migrant domestic workers even more vulnerable to abuses of the kafala system of sponsorship. Kassamali explains the history of this labor system in Lebanon and the intersecting roles of race, class, nationality and gender in the hierarchie

Sumayya Kassamali • 12 min read

Current Analysis

Political Assassinations and the Revolutionary Impasse in Lebanon and Iraq

In the midst of deepening political and economic crises, the recent assassinations of two intellectuals—Hisham al-Hashimi in Iraq and Lokman Slim in Lebanon—have shaken the popular protest movements that are pushing for fundamental change in both countries. Haugbolle and Andersen consider the conseq

Sune Haugbolle, Henrik Andersen • 14 min read

Current Analysis

Palestinian Refugee First Responders Rush to Aid Beirut

The Palestinian Civil Defense was praised for its efforts after the explosion in Beirut. This is the story of how a group of stateless refugees built an organization that saved lives when everything came tumbling down.

Erling Lorentzen Sogge • 10 min read

Covid-19 Coverage

The Challenges of a Public Health Approach to COVID-19 Amid Crises in Lebanon

Lebanon's highly privatized system of health care is presenting challenges to implementing a public health approach to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the country already suffering from multiple political and economic crises, containment of the coronavirus has been more effective than expected. But seri

Jocelyn DeJong • 11 min read

Lebanon’s Thawra

This uprising is demanding justice beyond sectarian, class, religious or cultural divides. In the clarity brought about by the uprising, the regime’s politics of division has been challenged by the uprising’s politics of solidarity.

Rima Majed, Lana Salman • 9 min read

MER Article

Urban Interventions for the Wars Yet to Come

In a wide-ranging interview, Hiba Bou Akar shows how urban planning is being used to turn some neighborhoods and urban peripheries in the Middle East into militarized frontier zones between competing political, military and sectarian organizations guided by the dystopian logic of a war yet to come.

Hiba Bou Akar • 11 min read

MER Article

Generational Dislocations

Since 2011, violence in Syria has worsened the widespread displacement of people in the Middle East and destroyed several cities. The images of displaced Syrian families fleeing to Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon broadcast around the world had a haunting resonance. Archival photographs of Armenian refuge

Joanne Randa Nucho • 9 min read

Current Analysis

The Lebanese Elections and Their Consequences

Nine years since the last national parliamentary election, many in the country expected the emerging civil society groups to challenge the tradition sectarian-based parties. Despite the rumblings for change, the status quo prevailed.

Rayan El-Amine • 10 min read

MER Article

Lebanon Dispatch

Trumpism as experienced from Lebanon is inextricably linked to the effects of the Trump administration’s positions and policies in the broader Middle East. The complexities of Lebanese politics and intrigue, and the social and economic challenges faced by the Lebanese as well as the country’s huge r

Karim Makdisi • 7 min read

MER Article

Managing Security Webs in the Palestinian Refugee Camp of Ain al-Hilweh

On May 31, 2017, Fatah commander Col. Bassam al-Saad was juggling three telephones—two mobile phones and one landline—at his office in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, Ain al-Hilweh. As the commander of the Joint Palestinian Security Force (JPSF), the defacto military police of the self-g

Erling Lorentzen Sogge • 9 min read