Hezbollah

Lebanon’s Cost of Living: A Nation Still Under Pressure

As of June, Lebanon’s Consumer Price Index recorded an annual increase of around 15%, a sharp drop from the staggering 253.55% seen during the same period in 2023. This decline is largely due to the stabilization of the exchange rate following months of severe devaluation of the Lebanese pound (LBP). Yet, despite this slowdown in inflation, ...

Can Hezbollah Still Claim Resistance With Its Arsenal Depleted?

Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Naim Qassem, warned on July 30 that any withdrawal of the group’s forces from south of the Litani River would be “a gain for Israel,” insisting that the party’s weapons remained “a domestic Lebanese matter.” Speaking at a memorial ceremony marking the first anniversary of the death of senior Hezbollah ...

The Shebaa Question: Sovereignty, Strategy, and the Price of Peace

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the rise of Ahmad al-Sharaa as Syria’s president, the political landscape has dramatically shifted. Long-held narratives have unraveled, and entrenched positions reversed, including those concerning territory, borders, and the disputed Shebaa Farms. No longer using Shebaa as a pretext for resistance under ...

Victims’ Families Demand Justice on 5th Memorial of Port Blast

On Monday evening, the fifth anniversary of the devastating Beirut port explosion, families of the victims led a solemn march, reaffirming their calls for truth, justice and accountability. Two groups set off from Martyrs’ Square and the Karantina Fire Station, converging at the Statue of the Emigrant near the blast site, carrying portraits of ...

Israeli Drone Kills Hezbollah Member in Khiam

A Hezbollah member was reportedly killed and four injured, on Monday, in an Israeli drone strike that targeted the Old Slaughterhouse neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Khiam, according to Al-Arabiya television. Hezbollah officially mourned Ali Suleiman Abu Abbas, who was killed in the town of Khiam. The strike came after a relatively ...

Lebanon, the Unraveling Republic

American political scientists in the sixties were quite pessimistic when analyzing the cascading political crises befalling Lebanon since the late fifties. Leila Meo used the label of “improbable nation” (1963), and Michael Hudson characterized it as a “precarious republic" (1965). This sense of instability prompted numerous scholars to ...

August 4: When Hezbollah Sabotages Lebanon’s Statehood

Five years of impunity… Five years marked by sustained pressure, intimidation, threats and brazen displays of militia and mafia-style tactics, all aimed at obstructing justice. The apocalyptic and tragic August 4, 2020, explosion that tore through the Port of Beirut and devastated nearby neighborhoods including Ashrafieh, Gemmayzeh, Mar Mikhail ...

Barrack and Ortagus Coordinate on Lebanon

All eyes are on the Lebanese Cabinet session scheduled for next Tuesday, which will address the issue of “disarming Hezbollah,” a phrase used by President Joseph Aoun in his speech on Thursday, Army Day’s eve. According to sources, Washington is awaiting the outcome of this session before determining its next steps toward Lebanon. US ...

Welcome Back!

As soon as press leaks emerged suggesting that the Lebanese file was being taken away from US envoy Tom Barrack and handed back to former envoy Morgan Ortagus, a certain optimism resurfaced among the Lebanese. This might be explained by the fact that Ortagus is seen as more than just a US envoy; she has indeed become some kind of celebrity in ...

Geagea Accuses Hezbollah of Setting Lebanon “a Hundred Years Back,” Calls for Weapons to Be Returned to the State

During the annual dinner of Radio Liban Libre, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea delivered a sharp speech against Hezbollah, accusing it of being the primary cause of Lebanon’s political, economic, and institutional decline. “We don’t need Israel to attack us to push us back a century: Hezbollah is already doing that,” Geagea said, ...

From Strategy to Reality: What Will It Take to Disarm Hezbollah?

The question of disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon, long a political taboo, is now back at the heart of both political and diplomatic discussions. This shift comes amid mounting international pressure and a changing balance of power in the region. Although the topic remains deeply divisive within Lebanon’s political class, experts believe there are ...