Hizbullah

By Adham Saouli | – The national uprising that has engulfed Lebanon since mid-October is historic and revolutionary. Protests have continued across Lebanon, even after Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on October 29 saying he wanted to give the country a “positive shock”. The response of Hezobllah, the armed political movement that has been part […]

Hizbullah

The Most Dangerous Border: What Israeli Strikes in Lebanon mean for Iran & Saudi Arabia

The Conversation

By Abdulaziz Alghashian | – Recent clashes between Israel and Hezbollah on the Lebanese border have caused much speculation of a looming military confrontation between Israel, Hezbollah and Iran, which backs the militant group. The exchange of fire in early September followed the crashing of two reportedly Israeli drones in Beirut in late August. A […]

Featured

Annual State Dept. Report on decline of Terrorism forgets to Thank Iran and Hizbullah

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The annual State Department report on terrorism says that terrorist attacks were down by 23% world wide in 2017. The report attributed this decline in some large part to the defeat of ISIL in Iraq and Syria. (Obviously, they haven’t disappeared there, and pockets continue to offer resistance, but let’s […]

Featured

No, Iran and Hizbullah haven’t taken over Lebanon: it is a multiparty Election

Juan Cole

Saudi Arabia’s weird kidnapping of Sunni leader hurt him at polls

Donald Trump

Trump’s Gift to Hizbullah weakens Saudi Hand in Beirut

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Hassan Nasrullah, the secretary general of Lebanon’s Hizbullah, called for a new Palestinian uprising or intifada in the wake of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. He said Trump had thereby issued “A second Balfour Declaration.” (The first was in 1917 when the British cabinet […]

Hizbullah

How Hezbollah deals with Hariri Crisis will affect Mideast Stability

Juan Cole

By Elias Ghazal | (The Conversation) | – – When the prime minister of Lebanon, Saad Hariri, suddenly resigned from office while visiting Saudi Arabia on November 4, the Lebanese people and their leaders struggled to make sense of it. First they were shocked when they watched Hariri’s deeply unsettling eight-minute resignation video, which was […]

Hizbullah

Saudi Debacle as Hariri returns to Beirut, remains PM

contributors

France 24 English | (Video News Report) | – – “Lebanon: PM Saad Hariri puts off stepping down. FRANCE24”s correspondent in Beirut Adam Pletts tells us more.” France 24 English: “Lebanon: PM Saad Hariri puts resignation on hold pending talks”

Featured

Pres. Aoun: Saudi Holding Hariri an Act of Aggression

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Beirut newspaper Al-Nahar [The Day] reports that President Michel Aoun of Lebanon said Wednesday, “Nothing justifies Prime minister Saad Hariri’s failure to return to Beirut after the passage of 12 days from his announcement of his resignation.” Aoun said he considered Hariri to have been […]

Hizbullah

Lebanon’s Big Crisis, and What Saudi Arabia could Lose

Juan Cole

By Billie Jeanne Brownlee and Maziyar Ghiabi | (The Conversation) | – – The Twitter account of Lebanon’s prime minister, Sa’ad Hariri has been inactive since November 6, just after he announced his resignation in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh. Hariri justified his decision as a move to escape an assassination plot. So far, both […]