Articles

Before anything else, Sheikh Naim, you must understand that all Lebanese are paying today for your political recklessness, your blind submission to Iran, and your unilateral decisions that dragged Lebanon into wars neither its people nor its State chose or approved. Those who brought the country to this tragic reality and allowed the Israeli occupation to return to parts of Southern Lebanon are not those striving today to save the country. They are those who submitted to Iran’s orders and unilaterally declared war, outside the framework of the State, its institutions, and its sovereign decision-making.

Six years after the catastrophic explosion at the Port of Beirut, at a time when it is more than likely that Hezbollah, with the complicity of others, shielded the stockpiling of ammonium nitrate, Lebanon is still struggling against its internal enemy. That enemy is embodied by Hezbollah’s weapons, which have been used both inside Lebanon and beyond its borders, particularly in Syria, long before the so-called “war in support of Gaza”, a war that ultimately brought disaster upon Lebanon’s Shiite community and, above all, a national calamity for the country itself. The latest remarks by Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem are further proof of this reality. He accused the Lebanese authorities of having “helped Israel instead of helping Lebanon,” adding that “President Joseph Aoun has become a party to the conflict and a source of division, which is incompatible with the role he is supposed to play.”

This series of articles aims to provide a clearer understanding of the current situation on the Lebanese scene, viewed through the lens of history and free from passionate, ideological, or romanticized narratives that miss the realities on the ground — leaving readers to draw their own conclusions. The previous thirteen installments offered a reexamination of the events surrounding Hezbollah's rise to power, from the Taif Agreement through the incomplete implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 in 2006. Since the end of the 33-day war with Israel in 2006, Hezbollah has worked to rebuild itself in terms of weaponry, reorganization, and redeployment. In short, it took a serious blow during that war, yet surprised Israel with its military capabilities. Over the following two years, it grew into a genuine armed force of regional stature, thanks to four key factors: battlefield experience; Iranian support; the Syrian land bridge (under the Assad regime) linking Tehran to Beirut; and the understanding between its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud at the time.

The seventh round of direct Lebanese-Israeli talks got underway Tuesday in Rome at the U.S. Embassy. The negotiations, described as difficult, are set to continue over three days, during which the Lebanese and Israeli delegations are expected to agree on the next stage of the mechanism envisaged for the gradual withdrawal of Tel Aviv’s forces and the deployment of the Lebanese Army. Beirut has made this issue a particular priority, while Israel remains chiefly focused on Lebanon’s mechanism envisaged for Hezbollah’s disarmament. The Iran-backed group returned to the offensive on Tuesday, lashing out at the Lebanese authorities and taking particular aim at President Joseph Aoun.

Benjamin Netanyahu took advantage of his attendance at the funeral of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham to make another visit to the White House, after his allies succeeded in persuading President Donald Trump to receive him. This time, however, the visit came through the political back door, denying him the media triumph he had hoped to capitalize on. His subsequent television interview reflected the depth of the predicament he now faces. His facial expressions failed to convey the confidence of a victor, revealing instead a strained smile and an air of defiance. Trump, true to his uncompromising temperament, appears unwilling to be associated with a partner who brings him political liabilities rather than gains.

As this is being written, Lebanon is at war again. Since March 2, 2026, large-scale exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah have resumed, extending a cycle of violence that began in October 2023 and never truly ended despite the November 2024 ceasefire. The war has cost more than 4,000 lives, displaced over a million Lebanese – more than a fifth of the population – and destroyed entire cities, villages and homes, some of them centuries old and irreplaceable. The International Monetary Fund now expects Lebanon’s GDP to contract by 12% to 16% in 2026, driven mainly by the collapse of tourism and the paralysis of economic activity in border regions.