To understand today’s crises in Iraq, Syria, and Iran, one must grasp their shared Lebanese connection. This assertion may seem odd. After all, what's the big deal about Lebanon? That little country hasn’t had top headlines since Israel deigned to bomb and invade it...
The War of Lies
Thirty years ago this week, the Israeli army crossed into Lebanon and started the stupidest war in Israel’s history. It lasted for 18 years. About 1,500 Israeli soldiers and untold numbers of Lebanese and Palestinians were killed. Almost all wars are based on lies....
Tribunal Concealed Evidence al-Qaeda Killed Hariri
In focusing entirely on the alleged links between four Hezbollah activists and the 2005 bombing that killed Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the indictment issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon earlier this month has continued the practice of the U.N. investigation...
Hariri Bombing Indictment Based on Flawed Premise
The indictment of four men linked to Hezbollah in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri made public by the Special Tribunal on Lebanon Aug. 17 is questionable not because it is based on "circumstantial evidence," but because that evidence is...
Syrians Running Out of Refuge in Lebanon
BEIRUT - Syrians from the border town Tell Khalakh have been fleeing a wave of violence over recent weeks to cross into neighboring Lebanon. But those seeking refuge now face an uncertain fate. Syrian territory lies only a few hundred meters from the Wadi Khaled area...
A Hezbollah-Run Lebanon Poses Little Threat to US Security
With the rise of a Hezbollah-backed government in Lebanon, hand-wringing seems to be the order of the day in the American and Israeli governments. Hezbollah is a Shi'ite Islamist group that is the only Arab entity to have defeated Israel in armed conflict – the latest...
The Assassins of Lebanon
Those who believed we would see a significant change in America's misguided – indeed, suicidal – foreign policy of global intervention, especially in the volatile Middle East, have surely been sorely disappointed by what President Obama has wrought. In...
White House Questions Suspension of Military Aid to Lebanon
Several powerful members of Congress have worked to suspend U.S. military aid to Lebanon's military after a deadly skirmish on the Lebanese-Israeli border last week which left two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and one Israeli officer dead. Howard Berman,...
Analyst: Israel’s Next War Could Be Lebanon
While speculation over a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities intensifies, at least one influential analyst is calling on Washington to focus more on the likelihood of a new war breaking out between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and how to...
Ironic Intervention: A Lebanese Doughboy in World War I
In 1914 Michael Zataney, born in the village of Zgharta in what is now Lebanon, lived in Birmingham, Ala., and looked forward to becoming an American citizen. The Zataney family left what geographers call "Greater Syria" to escape the oppression of the...