Lebanon

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Last week an Israeli helicopter gunship targeted Hizbullah outposts in Syria southwest of Damascus, near the front with the rebel Support Front (Syria al-Qaeda), which controls the Golan Heights on the Syrian side. These outposts were not in fact bordering Israel or likely aimed at Israel, but rather […]

Bashar al-Assad

Israel’s Syria Strike: Is it trying to Help al-Qaeda vs. Hizbullah & Iran?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — There are several questions around the Israeli helicopter gunship strike on Mazari` al-Amal in Syria’s Quneitra Province, which killed Hizbullah personnel and an Iranian general. First, what were the latter doing there? Second, why did Israel strike them? The Israeli cover story, that Hizbullah was planning attacks inside […]

France

Hezbollah’s Surprising Denunciation of Paris Attacks: is it Courting the West?

contributors

By Rola El-Husseini | (Special to Informed Comment) In a speech in Beirut on January 9, 2014, on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed, Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah declared that killings and beheadings by “takfiris” (excommunicators) are more harmful to Islam than are cartoons or books mocking the Prophet. This was […]

Entertainment

Anthony Bourdain on Iran and Beirut (Bisley Interview)

contributors

By Alexander Bisley | (Special to Informed Comment) — “By the end of this hour I will be seen by many as a terrorist sympathizer, a Zionist tool, a self-hating Jew, an apologist for American imperialism, an orientalist, socialist, fascist, CIA agent, and worse,” the inimitable Anthony Bourdain introduced his vital Gaza/West Bank episode Bourdain’s […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syrian Refugees Between a Legal Rock and a Hard Place in Lebanon

contributors

By Oriol Andrés Gallart | — BEIRUT, Nov 21 2014 (IPS) – Staring at the floor, Hassan, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee from Idlib in northwestern Syria, holds a set of identification papers in his hands. He picks out a small pink piece of paper with a few words on it stating that he must obtain […]

Hizbullah

Can Hizbullah save Lebanon from ISIL?

contributors

VICE: “As the Islamic State massacred its way throughout Iraq and Syria this summer, a separate battle took place in neighboring Lebanon. This summer, the Islamic State invaded the Lebanese border town of Arsal, beheading captured soldiers and unleashing waves of lethal car bombs, destabilizing the country. Hezbollah, one of the world’s strongest guerrilla armies, […]

Colonialism

WWI: Remembering how Europe Blockaded Lebanese Civilians & Killed 200,000 with Famine

contributors

BBC “Unknown to many, a third of the Lebanese population [then West Syria] died of famine and disease during World War One. BBC Arabic’s Carine Torbey recounts the horrifying story of the Famine of Mount Lebanon.” The famine of Mount Lebanon during WW1 – BBC News Note: Contrary to what Ms. Torbey alleges, the Ottomans […]

Featured

The Wider Appeal of ISIL and Sunni Grievances

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole al-Quds al-`Arabi [Arab Jerusalem] reports on the appeal of ISIL to Salafi hard line Sunni Muslims. In a worrisome development, radicals throughout the region are rallying to the so-called “Islamic State,” which is actually just a bunch of armed thugs and brigands. Some of the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan have announced their […]

Featured

Pan-Mideast War: ISIL and al-Qaeda attack Hizbullah outposts Near Lebanese Border

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole ISIL and al-Qaeda have, according to Hizbullah, launched attacks in Syria’s Qalamoun district (abutting the Lebanese border near Baalbek) on Hizbullah military outposts on the Syrian side. Hizbullah is acting in Syria as an adjunct to the Syrian Baath Army and helped reduce Qusayr and Homs last spring. The Syrian rebels were […]