Discovering MENA and other thoughts

Tracking the events in Iraq - in the whole region, actually - might be a colossal task. Particularly so during the Summer, when it is sometimes even difficult to grasp a single headline. We all are aware about something called ISIS - or IS, as of lately - that seems to be messing around from Lebanon to Iran. A group of bearded man that scares everybody, the only ones able to force Obama to reconsider his mantra of non-intervention and to make Assad look like a harmless puppy. We've read about them, we've seen tons of maps showing their advance, we've heard rumours and conjectures. In case you've missed half of it, there go a few basic things you need to know about them. And yes, they are creepy!

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah delivered an unforgettable speech in Beirut last July 25th on the occasion of "Jerusalem Day", in which he pledged "all means of support" for the "Palestinian resistance". It wasn't the first time Nasrallah took the chance to criticise Israel and its actions. It was the first time in months, though, Nasrallah showed signs that links between his organisation and Hamas are thawing. Hezbollah and Hamas had been allies in the region for more than 20 years. The first direct contact between the movements took place on December 17, 1992, when Israel deported 415 Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists from the West Bank and Gaza to Marj Al-Zouhour in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah’s resistance in the early 1980s inspired and motivated the Palestinians to launch the first intifada in December 1987, during which the Muslim Brotherhood branch in Palestine created Hamas. Many experts consider Nasrallah's messag...

Sometimes, it seems as though the only factors which contribute to sketch the future of the Middle East, most of them I laid out in this article , are out of the control of the citizens: sectarianism, repression, foreign intervention, coups (or non-coups)... However, and even though democracy may (still) not be seen as the key strength of the region, several elections are taking place in many of its countries. Concretely eight, nothing less, and in what many consider key countries that do have a say in regional - and often international - issues. This is why, although many may feel tempted to dismiss those events as procedural or even cosmetic moves, we all should take a closer look at the previous steps and the outcome of these votes.

Talking about politics in Lebanon is always tantamount to wondering about the status of Hezbollah (meaning "Party of God"). Hezbollah is, at the same time, as The Economist likes to call it, a party-cum-militia, created within the Shia community and funded by Iran during the country's civil war - in 1982 - with the main aim of offer resistance (muqawama) to the state's self declared biggest enemy that had just (taking advantage of the ongoing chaos) invaded the country: Israel. Its paramilitary wing is still regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds. Several countries and organizations in the West and elsewhere (U.S., Netherlands, France, Gulf Cooperation Council, U.K., Australia, Canada, the European Union ) classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, be it in whole or in part.

Do you remember being a child and being told stories about the "space race"? Didn't you imagine handsome brave American and Russian astronauts in over-the-rainbow modern space shuttles that would take them to the moon, or even somewhere else? Didn't our parents dream of Sputnik, Laika, Armstrong and the likes? Well, it seemed the Soviet Union and the United States were not the only ones fantasising about flying to the moon. A group of Lebanese youths once shared this dream and saw themselves conquering the space.

This week's Economist publishes an enlightening article drawing, amongst other things, parallels between the Lebanese and the Syrian civil wars. I would stress a sentence that I believe sums it all up perfectly: "Lebanon could not be conquered by one side, nor divided among all. Its people are too mixed".

Throughout the week, a lot has been said about Israel attacking Syria. The news was about Israel carrying out airstrikes in and around Damascus, targeting missiles Iran intended to smuggle into Lebanon through Syrian soil. The final addressee was Hezbollah, which would in turn have later used this "game-changing" weapons to attack Israel. Even though Israel did not confirm the military move at the beginning (the first information came from US intelligence sources), many officials (including an Israeli ambassador acting as guest speaker in a conference on the Southern Mediterranean I had the honour to attend) have commented on it, affirming that Israel is not looking forward to intervening in Syria, but has drawn its particular "red line", that is, Iran providing the Shiite militia with powerful arms that will put in danger both the stability in the region and Israeli citizens' safety. As a matter of fact, and in anticipation to some kind of counter-attack, I...

For months, the Syrian opposition has been accusing Hezbollah of waging a war against the Syrian people. Reports increasingly acknowledge the presence of Lebanese fighters, fighting alongside Assad´s army, on Syrian soil, namely in Shiite villages along the border between Syria and Lebanon. Even though the extent of the implication of Shiite group in Syria cannot be verified, it was clear the cum-militia had, in some measure, blood in their hands. This was confirmed when, in a televised speech, the leader of the Lebanese organization, Hassan Nasrallah, said they are ready to protect the Syrian regime. Nasrallah affirmed Syria has true friends in the region and the world that won't permit Syria to "fall in the hands of America, Israel, and Takfiris [jihadist group linked to Al Qaeda]". He added that members of Hezbollah were "providing appropriate aid" to Syrian government forces. He however denied Iranian forces are deployed in Syria, although he acknowledged ...

Anyone out there unaware of Assad's latest mischief? Really? Well, on the occasion of Syria's  Independence Day , the country's stiff President gave an interview to the Syrian official television channel Al-Ikhbariya. The interview coincided with the country's Independence Day, and at one point of the ranting he linked his departure to a "decision of the people". Was he maybe suggesting there might be a presidential election, in which he will beyond doubt be the front runner, in 2014? He then paradoxically added that his post is of no value without the support of the people. Which people exactly?  Assad's speech was full with pearls of wisdom, notably the one about the West being trying to colonize his country and thus playing with fire as a result of its funding Al-Qaeda operations. He somewhat threatened the West saying it will pay dearly one day or the other, for this organization would turn against them in the future,  striking "in the hear...

It seems as of lately the Middle East is all about resignations. Resignations that could turn into game-changers. The head of the Syrian National Coalition announced his resignation on his Facebook page, although he later represented the Syrian opposition in an Arab League Summit that, according to some, inaugurated an era, as the Syrian opposition occupied the chair of the legitimate representatives of Syria before the international organization.

A devastating phrase in an enlightening article in L'Orient-le Jour strikes me: "nous avons nous aussi préparé nos examens sous les obus, et pointé au travail après des nuits blanches dans les abris de fortune. Oui, nous avons essuyé quelques tirs de roquettes sur les campus des facs où logeaient aussi, parfois, des réfugiés. Mais non, nous n’avons jamais perdu 80 étudiants d’un coup. Des architectes. Des qui espéraient un jour participer à la reconstruction d’un pays dont on ne compte plus les ruines. Et non, il n’y a plus matière à comparaison depuis longtemps".

Since 2003, Iraq has been regularly, though mildly, appearing in the news every other week. Stability has not taken hold in the country, sunk into sectarian violence, misery and civilian dissent over the last years and even decades, constantly on the brink of civil war. What is exactly happening nowadays, and how can it be linked to the country's recent history? Over the last weeks, thousands of protests, including strikes and sit-in, have taken place in Sunni-dominated areas, notably north and west of Baghdad, calling for the satisfaction of mainly two demands: the release of hundreds, if not thousands, of prisoners charged with terrorism by virtue of Laws adopted under the umbrella of the "war on terror" but according to many, arrested out of sectarian animosities (most of them have been freed this week-end, the authorities having admitted that some of them were arrested "unlawfully" though blaming bureaucrats for this) and the resignation of the Shiite ...

I guess this question can be raised when it comes to every country in the world, but it started playing in my mind while reading about Lebanon, an incredibly heterogeneous country that has been under construction for several decades. And what is one of the most important elements when creating a national identity, notably according to the German doctrine? Exactly, History! Indeed, the state's authorities have been struggling to create a unified History since the end of the bloody Civil War that ravaged the country and left many psychological scars behind (some of them are opened from time to time, like, for instance, weeks ago ). The hallmark 1989 Taif Accords that put an end to the conflict called for a civic education to be uniform across the territory, in order to promote a (still fragile) national unity. This consensus was however ignored, leading to considerable void in the subsequent generations' education, or at lest general knowledge (I am talking about public e...

We all know Friday is a key day for everything regarding the Arab World. Last Friday was no exception. A huge car bomb exploded at the heart of the Beirut's Christian neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh (Christians were also the main target of a terrorist attack that took place yesterday in Damascus). It was the first large-scale explosion since 2008, an event that largely reminisced former PM Hariri's killing in 2005, an act that sadly reminded Lebanese people what living in fear actually is. The target of the bomb remained unclear during the first hours. 8 people died (4 of them have not yet been identified), more than 80 were injured, and a large swathe of land around the area was substantially damaged. First, people thought the bomb aimed at blowing up the Headquarters of the 14 March Movement (a coalition of the main parties in the opposition, that was able, together with the Lebanese themselves, to finally rout the Syrians in 2005) in the vicinity. But little by little rumor...

Most important data: death toll dangerously approaching an outrageous number: 35,000 (mostly civilians, and too many innocent children amongst them) since the outset of the uprising in March 2011, with countless injured and more than 25,000 detained. Moreover, more than 260,000 Syrians have fled to neighbouring countries (moreover,  the number of internally displaced persons is now estimated at 1.2 million)  and approximately 2.5 million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, according to official UN sources. As I said in my last entry (paraphrasing the admirable Sartre), our hands (all of us') are dirty. On 24 September,  Lakhdar Brahimi , Joint United Nations and League of Arab States' Envoy for Syria, briefed the United Nations Security Council on his recent visit to the region (Syria, neighbouring countries and Cairo), announcing the situation is still "very grim", but nonetheless showed an optimistic stance, and even foresaw a ...

Pope Benedict XVI  has winded up a successful three-day visit to Lebanon, where he has delivered a vital message of tolerance, particularly relevant in view of the  current violence ravaging the region .  The visit was not without incidents, though. In the northern city of Tripoli, where one demonstrator was killed, angry mobs,  following the example of their neighbours  protesting against the film "Innocence of Muslims" (the Pontiff has made no reference to it but the Vatican did condemn it) chanted "we don't want the Pope" and "no more insults". Lebanon, also called in the past the "Switzerland of the Middle East" can easily be described as one complicated religious mosaic: more than 30 percent of the population are Christians, divided  into more than a dozen churches (only six of them linked to the Vatican). The  Muslim majority, for its part, includes both Sunnis and Shi'ites in a similar proportion, as well as Alawites. Indeed, g...

Hezbollah (aka "Party of God") is an Iranian-funded Shia Muslim militia created in the 1980s, in the midst of Lebanon’s civil war.  Much has been said about the “propaganda war” the group has been waging, a war that found its peak with the building of a multi-million dollar museum in the town of Mleeta celebrating its military victories over Israel, as the magnificent video my friend Pierre sent me shows (don’t miss VICE´s Hezbollah´s propaganda war ). The militia has been using propaganda to transform itself into not only a military, but also a political force to be reckoned with (a real kingmaker in Lebanon), not only through an increased military build-up, but also through public relations (yeah, yeah, you read it right: I said PR). It seems that what some Western powers call “terrorist groups” (I won’t get into that) know how to balance Joseph Nye’s hard and soft power. The group’s leaders are well known for their inflammable speeches, and they do master th...

I would never dare to think I have enough knowledge so as to freely talk about this issue and produce a meaningful article, but I will try to write down what I have understood so far (I already had to edit as I misunderstood some facts, thanks Louis!). Lebanon and Syria have always been deeply interconnected. Both countries were part of the Ottoman Empire, both countries were under the dominance of France's colonization, both countries share an extremely complicated ethnic/religious division, and both countries political scenes still depend on the other's. More recently, Syria was a key player in the brokering of the 1989 Taif Accords putting an end to Lebanon's civil war, and its troops (and many authorities) stayed in the country (allegedly guaranteeing the non resumption of violence) until 2005, when the country's population unanimously demanded their retreat. It all started in Tripoli, Lebanon's second largest city, next to the country's northern borde...