Are Things Looking Brighter for the Middle East?

2025-10-03 18:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Lebanon Syria Gaza Hamas United States

A year after Israel defanged Hezbollah, and in the wake of the annual opening of the UN General Assembly and several developments related to the Middle East, it may be a good time to take stock. In my 38-year career of diplomacy in the Middle East, anytime someone expressed optimism, I would suggest a head examination might be in order. However, ...

A Peacemaker Visits a Land of Perpetual War

2025-11-04 09:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Pope Vatican

Pope Leo XIV’s expected visit to Lebanon later this month comes at a moment of peril for the country. Lebanon’s most recent war, launched by Hezbollah on October 8, 2023, has barely ended, with Israel threatening to renew the conflict at any moment should Hezbollah not disarm. The Lebanese government has pledged to assert state power and ...

How Syria Can Begin Integrating the SDF

2025-12-24 10:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Turkey Syria SDF Kurds Ahmad al-Sharaa

Clashes erupted December 22 in Aleppo between Syrian government troops and the local Kurdish security forces (Asayish), killing at least three people and underscoring the challenges facing efforts to unify armed factions under the Syrian transitional government. Even as Damascus seeks to consolidate nationwide security and integrate armed ...

Peace with Israel: Lebanon's Path to Economic Revival

2025-12-30 10:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Israel United Arab Emirates Baalbeck Bahrain

An unconditional peace treaty with Israel, inspired by the Abraham Accords' success, could reduce Lebanon’s security risks, unlock billions in foreign investments, revive trade, agriculture, and services, and create jobs—offering economic salvation while preserving Lebanon’s support of Palestinians.  Normalization could boost Lebanon’s ...

Ahead of 2026, Washington's Tougher Terms for Lebanon

2025-12-31 17:10 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Lebanon Washington Donald Trump Lebanese Army Amal

Heading into 2026, U.S. engagement in Lebanon has become explicitly conditioned on measurable progress toward Hezbollah’s disarmament, marking a clear break from the strategic ambiguity that long defined Washington’s approach. The aftermath of the 2024 Israel–Hezbollah conflict, alongside Lebanon’s deepening economic and political crises, ...

Palestinian Weapons Test Lebanon’s Credibility on Disarmament and Security

2025-10-31 09:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Palestinian camps United States

The killing of Elio Abu Hanna by Palestinian gunmen in Beirut’s Shatila refugee camp this past weekend is not just another crime. His murder is a serious test for a Lebanese government dragging its feet on its commitment to disarm Hezbollah and other militias. There is no reason the Shatila refugee camp should remain off-limits to the ...

Constitutional Council Upholds Banking Authority and Ties Bank Reform Law to Gap Law

2025-10-04 17:30 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Banks

Lebanon’s Constitutional Council issued a ruling partially annulling Law No. 23/2025 on banking reform and restructuring, following an appeal filed by ten MPs. In form, the Council accepted the appeal, as it was filed within the legal timeframe and met all procedural requirements. In substance, it decided to annul parts of the contested ...

The Compelling Challenge of Israel’s Diplomatic Opening to Lebanon

2025-12-08 11:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Israel Hezbollah United States

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Leiter’s diplomatic opening to Lebanon is a major turning point amid the encumbered political horizons, uncertainties, and doomsaying enveloping the country. Coming at the heels of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s peace offer, the benevolence and the moral density of this statement cannot be overlooked ...

Silence in Psychoanalysis: What the Absence of Words Reveals

2025-12-17 18:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Psychoanalysis Silence Therapy Words

Some silences are deafening, heavy, cutting through, and freezing the space around them. Others, by contrast, open a gap, suspending the flow of speech like a hand gently soothing a wound. In psychoanalysis, silence is not the enemy of discourse; on the contrary, it is its very condition, sometimes even its hidden engine. Silence permeates ...

Syria and Lebanon: Who Is Moving Forward in 2026?

04/01 10:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Nawaf Salam European Union Gulf Hezbollah Syria

Entering 2026, Syria and Lebanon stand at an inflection point along the region’s active fault line. While both nations shook off paralysis at roughly the same time a year ago, neither has become truly stable. What separates them is the nature of the risks they face in the near and medium-term as the Middle East undergoes uneasy post-war ...

Lebanon Probes Syrian Anti-Sharaa Operations from Its Soil

02/01 19:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon

Lebanese authorities have stepped up security measures following reports from Al Jazeera that groups loyal to the former Syrian regime may be preparing military operations against Syria’s current government from Lebanese territory. Sources say the issue is a top priority for Lebanese security agencies, particularly military intelligence. ...

Prince Andrew: The Monarchy’s Lasting Burden

2025-10-20 16:00 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

United Kingdom Prince Andrew London Prince William King Charles III

On Friday evening, Prince Andrew, long embroiled in scandal, announced he would relinquish all his royal titles and honors under pressure from his brother, King Charles III, and heir apparent Prince William. Accused of sexual abuse dating back to 2001, involving a 17-year-old and linked to his controversial friendship with billionaire Jeffrey ...

Syrian Prisoners and Islamist Detainees in Lebanon: A Ticking Time Bomb

2025-07-14 11:15 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Lebanon Syria Islamist Hezbollah

The issue of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon has resurfaced, alongside that of Islamist detainees, many of whom have been held for years without trial or clear charges. This tragic reality highlights a blatant pattern of ongoing political and judicial injustice, where hundreds of individuals are denied their most basic legal and human rights under ...

Joseph Aoun’s Courageous Stand: A Historic Turning Point for Lebanon’s Sovereignty

2025-08-06 15:50 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Lebanon Hezbollah Joseph Aoun

Yesterday, an exceptional Cabinet session was held at the Baabda Presidential Palace, lasting nearly six hours and marking a major political turning point in Lebanon’s modern history. Under the presidency of the Head of State, General Joseph Aoun, the government adopted a bold and unprecedented decision: to set a deadline for the disarmament ...

The Great IT Blackout: How a CrowdStrike Update Paralyzed the World

2024-07-25 12:05 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

  Last Friday morning, the world was hit by one of the most significant IT blackouts in history. Thousands of Windows machines failed to boot up or reboot, disrupting banks, airlines, TV broadcasters, healthcare companies, major retailers, and numerous other businesses globally. While the cause of the outage is known and efforts to restore ...

The Epigraphs of Our Lady of Ilige

2025-11-15 10:30 - Reading : 7 minute(s)

Europe USA

Following Saint John Maron of Kfar-Hay (685–770) and Saint George of Yanouh (770–1120), Patriarch Peter I established his seat at Our Lady of Ilige in 1121. Ilige lies in a valley of the Mayfouq region, high above Byblos, annually cloaked in a thick mantle of snow. The monastery of Our Lady was built upon the remains of a Phoenician temple, ...

Hezbollah: Denial and Manipulation!

2024-12-28 16:50 - Reading : 4 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Hamas Hezbollah

One might think that Hezbollah has a short memory. But no. It resorts to manipulation and counts on the very short memory of certain Lebanese who still see it as a protective shield because they do not want to – or dare not – face reality. They refuse to admit that if part of Lebanon is destroyed and if the Israeli army is present in certain ...