Lebanon: The show must go on
BEIRUT (IPS) � A bomb tears through the bustling Chevrolet area on the outskirts of Beirut. Bad news travels fast: Captain Wissam Eid from the Internal Security Forces has been killed in the blast. This is a typical day for Lebanese citizens. The year 2007 has already been grim for most Lebanese businesses. Crisis after crisis has...
Lebanon edges closer to civil war
February 7th, 20080 BEIRUT � There will be blood. That was the message this week in the neglected southern suburbs of Beirut. At least eight persons were killed and more than twenty injured when shots were fired at crowds of demonstrators protesting the power outages that have been plaguing their areas. Details of the incident that took place near the Mar...The struggle for Lebanon
Syria has vital security issues with regard to Lebanon, and sees its lesser neighbor as an essential \geo-politicalpartner. And Syria's security necessities could help stabilize Lebanon's political crisis, if the Arab World -- particularly Saudi Arabia � can come to terms with Damascus. It does not look as if the long-running Lebanese...Lebanon vote delayed again
BEIRUT � A parliament session scheduled for Monday to elect Lebanon's president has been postponed to February 11, despite Arab mediation to break the deadlock. The latest delay brings to 13 the number of sessions that have had to be postponed since September 25 to pick a successor to Emile Lahoud, the president who stepped down in...Attack on U.S. vehicle in Beirut kills 4
As Bush tours Mideast, was this a message? BEIRUT � An explosion targeted a U.S. Embassy vehicle Tuesday in northern Beirut, killing four Lebanese and injuring a local embassy employee, American and Lebanese officials said. In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said two embassy employees � including...Is Suleiman up to the challenge?
In Lebanon over the last three months, ten parliamentary sessions to elect a new president have been postponed. By tradition the president has to be a Maronite Christian; this tradition is a problem that has never been addressed adequately. The eleventh parliament election session, scheduled for December 29, is expected to be...
Bombing kills Lebanese general, deepens crisis
December 15th, 20070 The assassination of Brig. Gen. Francois Hajj may have been revenge for a summertime campaign against Islamic militants. Beirut � The political crisis here deepened this week when a senior Army general was killed in a powerful car bombing, the ninth high-profile attack on a prominent Lebanese in a sporadic campaign of assassinations...
Will army commander take control of Lebanon?
December 9th, 20070 BEIRUT (IPS) � As the constitutional clock ticks away the last few hours of Emile Lahoud's presidential term, Lebanon faces its worst political deadlock since the end of the civil war. Five parliamentary sessions to elect Lahoud's successor have already been postponed since Sep. 24, with the danger of civil strife looming over the...
The U.S. narrative for Lebanon
December 2nd, 20070 Even if France were tempted to play guardian again for the Christians in Lebanon � with the approval of the American Empire, instead of the Ottoman Empire this time � the official Arab and international order could not directly imprint itself on Lebanon in a way favorable to the opposition, not even the Christian opposition, which makes...
Divided Lebanon has no president
November 24th, 20070 Country unable to elect a president, vote delayed for another week Beirut � Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Friday handed over the task of securing law and order in Lebanon to the country's army commander until a political consensus is reached and a new president is elected, after efforts to again chose his...Presidential election tops international agenda
BEIRUT (AFP) � U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warned Lebanese leaders Friday that their country stood on the brink of an "abyss" if they failed to put their differences aside to elect a new president by a November 23 deadline. "If the responsibilities are not shouldered, there might be a move to the brink of an abyss," the U.N. chief said after...Will a new Lebanese president make a difference?
Today the Christian community of Lebanon retains a political privilege from the past, privilege that comes at a heavy cost. Lebanon is on the verge of collapse if a strong and respected presidential leader does not emerge by November 24. Elections are scheduled for November 12, but they may be postponed again, this time only for a...Rice against ‘compromises’ with pro-Syrians
SHANNON, Ireland (AFP) � U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday warned against diplomatic moves to solve Lebanon's serious political crisis by compromising with the country's pro-Syrian opposition. "I think there is a lot of talk right now about compromise," she told journalists on a plane taking her to Ankara for talks with...Lebanon to U.N.: Israel violating resolution
Lebanon has accused Israel of nearly 300 encroachments into Lebanese air space since the end of the Second Lebanon War, in violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, Army Radio reported on Thursday. In a letter to the United Nations, Beirut alleges that the Israel Air Force has performed 290 sorties into Lebanese...U.S. to build ‘strategic partnership’ with Lebanese army
A senior Pentagon official said last week that the U.S. military would like to see a strategic partnership with Lebanon's army to strengthen the country's forces so that Hizbullah would have no excuse to bear arms. The comments by Eric Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, in an interview aired on Lebanese television two days......
In Lebanon, a comeback for cannabis
Bekaa Valley � Ali plucks a sprig of the cannabis sativa plant and sniffs its distinctive leaves with appreciation. This Lebanese farmer's field of marijuana, a splash of bright green on the sun-baked plains of eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, will yield around 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of cannabis resin, or hashish, which he will sell for...Briton killed while clearing IDF cluster bombs in southern Lebanon
BEIRUT � A British man was killed on Thursday while clearing cluster bombs dropped on southern Lebanon by Israel during its war with Hizbullah guerrillas last year, a United Nations spokeswoman said. He was the 13th person to be killed during work to clear unexploded ordnance from the war in July and August, 2006, said Dalya Farran of......
U.S. aid dependency: The road to ruin
Since Israel's July 2006 war on Lebanon, and up to the current deadlock over electing Lebanon's next president, the Bush administration has gone out of its way to express its commitment to Lebanese "democracy" and to building a strong and sovereign country that can "stand up" to allies of Syria and Iran which exist within Lebanon's...External meddling complicates Lebanon’s election
BEIRUT (IRIN) � Lebanon's tussling factions are headed for a stalemate, settlement, or war, and international actors as much as local ones will decide which, analysts say. The presidential vote which was to be held on September 25 was deferred until October 23 after lawmakers failed to find a consensus candidate. Opposition members of...Gunpowder dialogue in Lebanon
The explosion of September 19 targets the Christian community in Lebanon. The Christians of this country have become a demographic minority over the last few decades as a result of higher emigration and smaller families. They have emerged from a devastating 15-year civil war with less political power but with determination to retain...
Beirut blast kills lawmaker
September 22nd, 20070 BEIRUT � An anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker was killed Wednesday in a large car-bomb explosion in east Beirut, just six days before parliament is scheduled to elect a new president. The death of Antoine Ghanem, a Christian parliamentarian, may delay the election, which has already aggravated a bitter year-long political dispute between......
Hizbullah and the promised president
Too much responsibility has been attached to the role of the next president of Lebanon who is due to be elected on September 25. This is why it is difficult to agree on who is going to be the next president. The opposition camp wants the candidate to be friendly to Hizbullah and its regional supporters (Syria and Iran) and the government...In Lebanon, DNA may yet heal rifts
BYBLOS, Lebanon (Reuters) � A Lebanese scientist following the genetic footprint of the ancient Phoenicians says he has traced their modern-day descendants, but stumbled into an old controversy about identity in his country. Geneticist Pierre Zalloua has charted the spread of the Phoenicians out of the eastern Mediterranean by......
Lebanon’s rising jihadi threat
Even after the Lebanese Army defeated Muslim militants Sunday, Al Qaeda's credo is spreading in Palestinian camps. Nahr Al-Bared � Lebanese military helicopters flew low Monday over the smoking ruins of this Palestinian refugee camp as soldiers scoured the nearby countryside for remnants of the Al Qaeda-inspired group whose three-month...Lebanon’s only chance is the army
I had the opportunity to spend the last six weeks in Lebanon, making pleasure and working visits to different areas of the country and engaging in political and other discussions with local officials, academics and opposition activists. The experience has been instructive, simultaneously heartening and depressing, but has also suggested......
