Current Analysis Commemorating Lebanon’s War Amid Continued Crisis At midnight on April 13, ringing church bells and the call to prayer echoed across Beirut. These haunting sounds intermingled over Martyrs’ Square, the unfinished main plaza of old Beirut where thousands of Lebanese have been mixing, day and night, since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri in Laurie King-Irani • 14 min read
Current Analysis Lebanon Catches Its Breath The February 14 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri has precipitated a rapid and dramatic transformation of Lebanon’s political landscape. In the six weeks following the assassination, the Lebanese government collapsed and Syria began the process of withdrawing its soldiers and intelligence officers from Lebanon, almost 30 Nicholas Blanford • 12 min read
MER Article Iran, the Vatican of Shi'ism? The Iranian state, controlled de facto by the conservatives in the government, promotes the idea that Iran is the center of Shi‘ism. It bases its argument on the fact that Iran is a Shi‘i-run state, whereas Shi‘i Muslims in other parts of the world live in states that are dominated by Sunnis, and so Roschanack Shaery • 11 min read
Current Analysis Hizballah and Syria's "Lebanese Card" The clock is ticking on a surprising UN Security Council resolution, passed on September 2, calling on Syria to cease its various forms of interference in Lebanon. France and the United States co-sponsored the call on "all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon," which charged the UN Nicholas Blanford • 11 min read
MER Article Disavowed Homosexualities in Beirut Beirut can be perceived as a social body, with all the complexities of such an organism. Lebanon's capital provides, in fact, the stage for a panoply of moods and dispositions which are a dynamic result of particular histories and larger socio-cultural circumstances. As a body, Beirut is, of Sofian Merabet • 11 min read
Current Analysis Holding Syria Accountable, Though Selectively With George W. Bush stubbornly insisting that the US is making “progress” in the “central phase of the war on terror” in Iraq, pro-Israel Democrats and Republicans in Congress figure it is time for phase three. Some think tankers want to train Washington’s gunsights on Iran, but next week Congress w Chris Toensing • 3 min read
Current Analysis Heightened Israeli-Lebanese Tensions Over Jordan's Headwaters A new source of tension between Lebanon and Israel has brought to an abrupt end what had been a generally calm summer along the flashpoint border between the two countries. Lebanon is close to implementing a plan to pump water from the Wazzani springs, the principal source of water for Nicholas Blanford • 8 min read
Current Analysis Thirteen-Year Itch Politicians and the Lebanese media have adopted August 7, 2001 as the date on which the Lebanese government began to crack down on public freedoms. On that afternoon, a pro-opposition television station broadcast live footage of Lebanese army personnel raiding the offices of Christian political figures Tawfiq Hindi and Nadim Marlin Dick • 7 min read
Current Analysis Fears of a Second Front On March 30, Hizballah attacked several Israeli army outposts in the Shebaa Farms, a disputed strip of mountainous territory running along Lebanon's southeast border with the Golan Heights, in the first such attack since mid-January. Sayyid Hasan Nasrallah, Hizballah's secretary-general, reportedly authorized preparations for stepped-up operations Nicholas Blanford • 10 min read
Current Analysis Detonating Lebanon's War Files It is hard to say which news surprised Beirutis more on January 24: the previous evening's report from Brussels that a war crimes case against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and others had moved one step closer to trial, or the sickeningly familiar roar of that morning' Laurie King-Irani • 7 min read
Current Analysis Trying to Try Sharon The concept of universal jurisdiction in international law is undergoing a historic test in Belgium. On November 28, a Belgian court will decide whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can be tried for his alleged role in the slaughter by Lebanese militiamen of untold numbers of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians Linda A. Malone • 7 min read
Current Analysis Lebanon One Year After the Israeli Withdrawal Quiet has apparently returned to the Lebanese-Israeli border after violent incidents last week marked the first anniversary of Israel's forced withdrawal from southern Lebanon. Israeli forces shot two Lebanese men who were throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers across the border, and downed a small plane flying into Israeli As'ad AbuKhalil • 8 min read
