Articles

One of the most famous phrases in political history is attributed to Louis XIV of France, the “Sun King”: “L’État, c’est moi,” or “I am the state.” Although historians doubt that he ever uttered those exact words, the phrase endured because it captured an entire philosophy of government: the ruler and the state become two images of the same reality, opposition to his decisions becomes opposition to the nation, and the strength of institutions is measured by the degree of their submission to his will. France’s problem under Louis XIV was not that its king was weak. On the contrary, France was one of Europe’s greatest powers, and its monarch one of the most powerful rulers of his age. Yet the strength of the state became increasingly tied to centralized decision-making and the person of the king, while wars, expenditure, social inequalities and imbalances in public finances accumulated costs that later generations would have to bear.

A monastery of the contemplative Order of the Poor Clares, founded by St. Clare in the 13th century along the lines of the Order of St. Francis, was established in Rayaq (population 16,000), a small town in the central Bekaa plain, on August 11, the feast of St. Clare. The new monastery was deliberately established in a rural setting, where its prayers will enrich Lebanon’s “breadbasket,” incorporated into Lebanon by Patriarch Hoayek after the famine of 1915. Bishop César Essayan, apostolic vicar of the Latins in Lebanon, presided over the founding ceremony. The Christian population of Rayaq’s Christian quarter, Rayaq el-Faouka, turned out in force, extending an unforgettable and remarkably generous welcome to the five gray-habited nuns. Most of those present described the foundation as “a major spiritual event.”

Lebanon awoke Monday to the aftermath of a deadly night in the south, where at least 12 people were killed in Israeli strikes, including nine members of the same family, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. The escalation continued throughout the day, with deadly targeted strikes and near-continuous raids, mainly around the city of Nabatiyeh. It is fueling fears that Israel could expand its military operations now that the strategic Ali el-Taher hill has fallen under the control of the Israeli army. The bloodshed unfolded overnight Sunday into Monday in the village of Kfar Remmane, where an entire building was destroyed. Nine members of the same family, including two newborns, were killed. Two rescuers from the Islamic al-Rissala Scouts, affiliated with the Amal movement, were then killed in a targeted strike. On Monday, a 12th person was also killed in a strike on the al-Rihane road in Jezzine.

The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, caused a surprise during his visit to the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, after its residents who hold American citizenship repeatedly appealed to him for help in putting an end to the vandalism, blockade, arson and looting of their property by settlers. He described the settlers as “criminal terrorists.” This happened on September 5. The statement came from a Baptist pastor, a former governor of Arkansas, who prides himself on being a staunch Zionist and calls on the Israeli government to annex the territories of the West Bank, which he regards as the heart of the Jewish state, going beyond the official position of his country and his president, Donald Trump.

This series of articles offers a deeper understanding of the current situation in light of the past, steering clear of impassioned, ideological or romanticized narratives that miss the mark on reality. Our approach aims to leave it to the reader to draw the appropriate conclusions. The previous fourteen installments retraced the events surrounding Hezbollah's rise to power, its armed conflicts with Israel and its dominance over Lebanon, from the Taif Agreement to the Doha Agreement. May 2008, the mountain after Beirut. On May 7, 2008, Hezbollah and its allies (the Amal Movement and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, SSNP) forcibly took over the offices of Saad Hariri's Future Movement in Beirut, along with much of the capital's Sunni neighborhoods, which formed the popular base of the March 14 coalition.

While the United States had appeared to be relying solely on economic warfare against Iran, the US military abruptly carried out strikes on Iranian territory on Tuesday in retaliation for attacks targeting oil tankers, setting off a spiral of violence over the course of the week. In Lebanon, Israel released several civilians held in its prisons, while its army seized the strategic Ali el-Taher hill and continued its heavy strikes in the area it controls in the south of the country. The week from August 31 to September 6 was marked by a sharp acceleration of events in the Middle East, after the previous one had seemed defined by relative stagnation.