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International Affairs, Society
Lebanon’s Solidarity Beyond Politics
Nicole Hamouche 15 January 2025

Despite political polarization, the shared experience of closeness in adversity has solidified the foundations of vivre ensemble, a defining aspect of the Lebanese identity, “because Lebanon is the witness of history, because religions are complementary, and because the people are one,” and “our identity, despite our diversity, is Lebanese,” as stated by the newly elected President, Joseph Aoun, in his inaugural speech.
International Affairs
Joseph Aoun Takes the Helm in Lebanon: The End of the “Iranian Era”
Riccardo Cristiano 14 January 2025

General Joseph Aoun, until now the commander-in-chief of the army, is the new president of Lebanon. This marks the end of a dramatic, thirty-year chapter in the troubled history of this small yet crucial country. After 26 months of a presidential vacuum, his election officially brings to an end the so-called “Iranian” era, during which Hezbollah, the Party of God, not only achieved military success but also made Lebanon the Mediterranean terminal for exporting the Khomeinist revolution.
International Affairs
Reconstruction and Distrust: Stories Amid Lebanon’s Ceasefire
Nicole Hamouche 23 December 2024

After an initial sense of relief, reactions to the ceasefire among the population vary depending on one’s personal history, background, and level of awareness. If, for a population exhausted by years of repeated violence since the end of the so-called civil war—what stateman and journalist Ghassan Tueni called “the war of others”—the news of a ceasefire was significant, a page of such brutality cannot be turned in just a few days or weeks. Besides the moral damages, the bill of this war includes 4,047 killed and 16,593 injured in Lebanon since October 2023, with over 3,000 deaths in the last two months alone. Around 1.5 million people have been displaced, and destruction is concentrated in the South and in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Hezbollah’s headquarters. This comes on top of the unprecedented financial and economic crisis that has gripped the country for years, compounding the suffering.
International Affairs
Mona Harb on Lebanon’s Fragile Ceasefire and the Road to a New President
Alessandra Tommasi 17 December 2024

On November 28, 2024, a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon began, announced by US President Joe Biden as “designed to be permanent.” However, strikes continue to devastate southern Lebanon. Just days ago, Tel Aviv declared a partial troop withdrawal but refrained from a full pullback as part of the truce. Amid this fragile peace, set against Lebanon’s severe economic and political crises, we reached out to Mona Harb, Professor of Urban Studies and Politics at the American University of Beirut.
International Affairs
Ending It with Hezbollah: Netanyahu’s Dream of Invasion
Renzo Guolo 29 August 2024

One piece is still missing in the tragic Middle East conflict. After the August 25 clash between Israel and Hezbollah – of which both sides have only provided partial accounts tailored to their internal and external propaganda – an anticipated Iranian retaliation remains pending, announced but postponed to a “timely moment.”
International Affairs, Religion
Hezbollah’s Gaza War Stance Deepens Divides in Lebanon
Vanessa Breidy 31 July 2024

Twenty-four hours after Israel’s declaration of war following October 7, 2023, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hasan Nasrallah announced a “war of support for Gaza” from South Lebanon. This declaration was made solely by the political armed party Hezbollah, not the Lebanese government, thus constituting a clear violation of Lebanese state sovereignty and the rule of law. This breach has elicited varied reactions from Lebanese parties, with some Christian parties declaring the inevitability of political system reform and emphasizing the necessity of opening up the debate as soon as the war ends.
International Affairs
As Gaza Land Incursion Looms,
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict at a Crossroads
Claudia De Martino 18 October 2023

On October 7, a major coordinated military operation by Hamas resulted in terrorist attacks in Israel marking a significant escalation in the Israeli-Arab conflict, with a higher casualty count than previous conflicts. The Israeli establishment was caught off guard due to internal divisions and a lack of military readiness. Hamas’s objectives included challenging the IDF’s invincibility, garnering international support for the Palestinian cause, and disrupting normalization efforts between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The conflict is now on the verge of a land incursion by Israel to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, potentially drawing regional players into the fray.
International Affairs
Decline of Freedom, Collapse of Politics:
End of Parties throughout the MENA
Claudia De Martino 19 July 2023

Democracy is not doing well in the MENA region and political parties are the main casualties, surviving through life-support mechanisms but failing to make inroads in their respective national political contexts.
International Affairs
In Lebanon There is no Alternative to the Rule of Law
Nicole Hamouche 9 June 2023

The enormity of Beirut’s port blast and of the extortion of the Lebanese population of their deposits and life savings account for the default of the rule of law in this former enclave of liberty and democracy in the Middle East. Insidiously, Lebanon is becoming a police state, where freedom of expression and basic human rights such as access to education and health are being denied.
Arts, Society
Its Creative Impetus Might be
how Beirut Gets its Glory Back
Nicole Hamouche 1 February 2023

“Art is before anything, the confrontation with one’s destiny”, wrote the Lebanese poet, Nadia Tuéni. And the Lebanese have had indeed no choice but to confront their destiny. Against all odds, the last years of repression and depression, marked by the October 2019 revolution, the port’s blast, and the financial crisis, have given rise to a buoyant creativity in all forms.