Articles

History does not remember only the cities where wars came to an end. It remembers the cities where new political orders were born. That is why Rome may one day be remembered not merely as the city that hosted another round of negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, but as the place where the process of reshaping Lebanon’s political and security architecture began after a war that profoundly altered the regional balance of power. The meetings scheduled in Rome are about far more than a ceasefire, an Israeli withdrawal, or a prisoner exchange, important as those issues undoubtedly are. They form part of a broader process aimed at translating the outcome of the war into a new political reality capable of preventing any return to the pre-war status quo.

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting on Tuesday that both sides described as "positive," reaffirming their shared commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The two leaders, who have stood shoulder to shoulder in their campaign against the Islamic Republic, have nonetheless begun showing signs of divergence since last April. The White House occupant now favors a diplomatic solution to cut short a war that has dragged on longer than expected and risks becoming a political liability as the midterm elections approach. Conversely, the Israeli Prime Minister intends to see the confrontation through to the end in order to eliminate what he describes as the "existential" threat posed by Iran.

The war in Ukraine continues to be at the center of a wide-ranging debate, fueled in part by near-daily bombardments targeting key nerve centers on both sides, and more specifically the Russian and Ukrainian capitals. In order to better understand the various dimensions of this long-standing conflict, it is necessary to revisit the background and origins of what led to this (fratricidal?) war – by examining the motivations and aspirations of the different parties involved, including the West (the United States and Europe, extended to all NATO member states with the exception of Turkey), and by also recalling the early stages of the Russian offensive and the failed attempts to reach peace, or at least to open negotiations, bearing in mind that responsibility in this context is shared by many.

While tensions have largely subsided in the Middle East regarding the Iranian conflict, it is the Yemeni front that appears most active this Monday, July 27, with new Houthi rebel attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. In this context, the Saudi kingdom is currently being targeted by other pro-Iranian groups based in Iraq. The Saudis intercepted drones launched from Iraqi territory and, at the same time, called on Iraqi authorities to prevent such attacks carried out by these 'terrorist' groups — all the more so as the new government has expressed its willingness to better manage its internal situation.

Over the course of three decades, Hamas evolved from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood into an armed resistance movement at the end of 1987, before becoming the governing authority in the Gaza Strip following its takeover from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. From that point onward, Hamas ceased to be merely another Palestinian faction. It is true that the movement had come to power through democratic and peaceful elections, with Ismail Haniyeh serving as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority. Yet the bloody takeover, which claimed the lives of more than 120 members of the security forces and Fatah, as well as 39 civilians during five days of fierce attacks on Palestinian Authority institutions and the arrest of dozens of their personnel, according to reports by the International Committee of the Red Cross, fundamentally altered the political landscape.

This series of articles aims to provide a clearer understanding of the current situation on the Lebanese political scene in light of the past, free from passionate, ideological, or romanticized narratives that miss the underlying realities, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions. The previous twelve installments offered a reexamination of the events surrounding Hezbollah's rise to power, from the Taif Agreement through the deeply flawed implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 in 2006. Two years before the 33-day war of 2006, and more specifically on September 3, 2004, under direct pressure from Bashar al-Assad's Syria, the Lebanese Parliament extended President Émile Lahoud's term by three years.