Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, DC.
Debating Tom Friedman on ‘Global Struggle’
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 24/06 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Israel Iran United States Donald Trump Middle East
I have great admiration for Thomas Friedman and have long followed his writings. He was instrumental in shaping my support for democracy when he argued that two democracies would not go to war. He supported toppling Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, as I did, and we both believe that the nation-state is, in some ways, a defunct concept. Today, ...
Yet Another ‘Divine Victory’
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 17/06 12:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Iran Israel Iraq United States
No matter the outcome of the war between Iran and Israel, Tehran will claim victory. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has already cited the Quranic verse “a victory from God and an imminent conquest.” Middle East observers have seen this movie many times, and it always ends the same: with its military might, Israel prevails—while a ...
The Iranian Regime of War and Death
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 10/06 09:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
When I was in elementary school in Baghdad, in the early 1980s, teachers took us to the streets to shout angry slogans against “Khomeini the Hypocrite” for refusing to end Iran’s war with Iraq. Little did I know that, decades later and well into middle age, I would still be discussing the seemingly endless wars driven by the Islamist ...
As Iran Retreats, Islamist Turkey and Qatar Surge in Lebanon
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 03/06 10:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Iran Lebanon Qatar United States Saudi Arabia
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, a Sunni, entered the stadium of Beirut’s Sports City to watch the classic football game between the two rival teams Nijmeh and Ansar. When the Shia supporters of Nijmeh saw Salam, they started shouting slogans in support of Hezbollah and its late chief Hassan Nasrallah. The Sunni fans of Ansar fired back, ...
Time to Resettle Palestinians Outside Lebanon
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 27/05 11:20 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Palestine Israel Lebanon United States Arabs
Lebanon has announced a plan to disarm Palestinian refugee camps, a step in the right direction. But disarmament is not enough. Lebanon needs a hard divorce from the Palestinians and their cause and should ask the UN to resettle 174,000 Palestinians, classified as refugees, in a third country. The founding literature of the UN Relief and Works ...
Lebanon Should Take a Cue from al-Sharaa - and Talk to Israel
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 20/05 16:48 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Israel Syria United States Donald Trump
A joke has it that Syria’s self-proclaimed president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, offered to build a Trump Tower in Damascus to make up for the two New York towers that Al-Qaeda, al-Sharaa former organization, destroyed on 9/11, killing 2,753 Americans. Times are changing. Since October 7, Iran has been begging America for a nuclear deal that ...
Lebanon Is Finally on the Right Track
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 13/05 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Lebanon Hezbollah Syria Middle East Israel
A glimmer of hope can finally be seen in the Middle East and is emanating, surprisingly, from Lebanon, where the state is restoring its sovereignty and shrinking the Hezbollah tumor. More needs to be done. For now, however, the country is on the right track. “It has only been six or seven months,” a senior U.S. official told The Wall Street ...
Lebanon’s Ossified Left and Its Stance on Palestine
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 06/05 15:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Palestine Israel Christian Muslim
After the French Revolution of 1789, the king conceded some of his powers to Parliament. His supporters sat to his right and his opponents to his left. Forever after, the Right denoted supporters of the ruler and traditions, while the Left meant breaking with the old and yearning for the new. But that was only in theory. In practice, as time ...
Carnegie Endowment: “Trusting the Americans Is a Bad Idea”
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 29/04 15:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
USA America United States Donald Trump
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an American think tank, believes that “trusting the Americans is a bad idea.” Carnegie’s Michael Young did not qualify what he meant by “the Americans.” Did he mean the US government? Its policies? Or just all of the Americans, wholesale? Young even took a swipe at the May 17, 1983 ...
Hezbollah to Aoun: Bring It On!
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 22/04 15:00 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Hezbollah Joseph Aoun Nawaf Salam United States
Hezbollah is thumbing its nose at President Joseph Aoun. In response to the Lebanese President saying that he was in talks with the militia over surrendering its arms, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said, “We will confront whoever assaults the resistance and tries to disarm it the same way we faced Israel.” Now what? While Aoun remained silent, ...
Nuclear Deal or Not, Hezbollah Must Disarm
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 15/04 15:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Hezbollah Israel United States
The Shia of Lebanon who pledge allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei should ask themselves these questions: Why do they boycott American products when Khamenei invites Americans to invest in Iran and promises Washington $4 billion in contracts? Why do these Shia have to live in tents, erected atop their razed homes, and not surrender ...
National Dialogue Is Unconstitutional
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 08/04 15:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Parliament Nawaf Salam Joseph Aoun
When President Joseph Aoun took his oath of office before Parliament, he pledged to uphold the Constitution of Lebanon. Had the President and his Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, declared from the outset that restoring state sovereignty depended on Hezbollah’s willingness to disarm, their oath would have been unnecessary. It is in cases like ...
Pretending to Disarm Hezbollah Won’t Work
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 01/04 15:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Lebanon Hezbollah Nawaf Salam Joseph Aoun
Lebanon is pretending to disarm Hezbollah and thinks that the world believes it. Then, when the world calls Beirut out, Lebanese officials engage in collective delusion and blame “Israeli aggression” for military escalation. Lebanon is now reneging on the ceasefire and the 1701 enforcement mechanism that it signed, in November, in which it ...
Who Destroyed Lebanon: Hezbollah or the Banks?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 25/03 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Lebanon Hezbollah Banks Parliament
A “bloc” of lawmakers, political parties, media outlets, and non-governmental organizations are peddling a platform that distracts attention from the paramount importance of disarming Hezbollah and instead blames banks for the utter misery that Lebanon finds itself in. Such an argument is either too dumb, or its proponents are too ...
Hezbollah Reneging on Surrendering Its Arms
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 18/03 15:30 - Reading : 4 minute(s)
Hezbollah and its allies – Speaker Nabih Berri, former Minister Najib Mikati, and Hezbollah ministers in the previous cabinet – all signed the ceasefire agreement with Israel that ended the war and that stipulated that arms in Lebanon must be exclusively in the hands of six government military and security agencies. When this happens, ...
Hezbollah’s Comeback Plan and How to Counter It
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 11/03 15:15 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Lebanon Hezbollah Parliament Iran USA
If the glass at your house got shattered during Hezbollah’s war with Israel, the Iran-backed militia would pay you $1,200 to fix it, a hefty sum by Lebanese standards. Reports, perhaps exaggerated, suggest that Hezbollah sits on a $10 billion budget allocated for reconstructing its partisans’ residential and commercial units. Spending at this ...
Lebanon Must Relearn Democracy, Debate Peace with Israel
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 04/03 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Lebanon Israel Democracy Peace
Druze lawmaker Wael Abou-Faour said that U.S. officials have broached the subject of peace between Lebanon and Israel with top Lebanese leaders, but argued that peace would spark clashes and civil strife, and therefore, his bloc thinks that truce with the Hebrew state was the most that Lebanon could accept. The merits of peace aside, ...
Hezbollah Is the Antithesis of Shia Islam
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 25/02 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
A video went viral of a Lebanese woman standing at the Beirut Airport and berating other passengers, shouting: “We sacrificed our blood, this is our country, and whoever does not like it should emigrate.” She then held a picture of late Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, pumped her first in the air, and shouted a few slogans. ...
Lebanon’s Neutrality Must Include Arabs vs. Israel
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 18/02 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam did well by recommending that the different Lebanese factions replace their allegiance to foreign powers with unity and independence, suggesting that he supported Lebanon’s regional and global neutrality. Yet, in the same breath, Salam said that Lebanon must be part of the “Arab solidarity” in support of ...
Hussain Abdul-Hussain from FDD Washington, D.C : Lebanon and Israel Should Start Talking About Peace
Hussain Abdul-Hussain 03/02 20:00 - Reading : 3 minute(s)
I spent the last decade away from Lebanon in self-imposed exile. I became an intellectual and political pariah for demanding immediate and unconditional peace between Lebanon and Israel. I was told not to show off my Hebrew and to conceal my friendships with Israelis. I was told that I was going too far and that the Lebanese were not there yet. ...