Amal

Hezbollah and Amal Postpone Protest in Beirut

Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have announced the postponement of the protest scheduled for Wednesday, August 27, 2025, at Riad al-Solh Square. The demonstration was planned to reaffirm the resistance’s status and arms and to oppose a recent government decision. Sources indicated that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri intervened with Hezbollah, ...

Hezbollah Holds Back, Awaiting the Army’s Disarmament Plan

Over the past year, regional and domestic developments have overturned the balance of power and reshaped political positions. What was categorically rejected before September 2024 is now being accepted by Hezbollah, which today demands what it had previously opposed, notably a dialogue over the future of its arsenal within a national defense ...

Iran’s Top Security Chief Ali Larijani Lands in Beirut Amid Fierce Debate Over Weapons Monopoly

Amid heightened political tensions in Lebanon, marked by increased mobilization of Hezbollah supporters and strong reactions to the government’s decision to reserve arms exclusively for the Lebanese Armed Forces, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary, Ali Larijani, arrived in Beirut on Wednesday. Larijani began his ...

Finance Minister Yassin Jaber Faces Hezbollah's Wrath Over Disarmament Stance

Finance Minister Yassine Jaber, who is affiliated with Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal Movement, came under scathing attack by Hezbollah supporters on social media over his recent remarks in support of the state’s “exclusive control of weapons.” His position, which reflects Amal’s approach to disarming Hezbollah, is viewed as a departure ...

Naim Qassem Rejects Disarmament, Warns Israel

Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem, speaking at a memorial for commander Ali Karaki, emphasized the group’s ongoing resistance against Israel and accused the latter of repeatedly violating ceasefire agreements in southern Lebanon. Qassem claimed that Hezbollah fully implemented the ceasefire along the Litani River and that the ...

Arms and Ballots: Hezbollah’s Political Stakes

The most recent parliamentary session exposed deep divisions among Lebanon’s political forces over the electoral law – particularly on the issue of expatriate voting. The rift was so intense it raised concerns that the entire electoral process could be derailed, especially by parties whose interests have been harmed by recent local, regional ...

Hezbollah’s Last Bargain

Hezbollah continues to maneuver under the weight of periodic foreign pressure, and the discourse of its remaining leadership around disarmament is beginning to shift. At the outset of the conflict, the party maintained an unyielding stance, categorically rejecting any discussion of surrendering its weapons and insisting that the aggression it ...

What Is the Shia Issue with the Diaspora?

The issue of expatriate voting - if it makes it onto Parliament’s agenda - has taken on a sectarian dimension, placing the Shia community in an increasingly contradictory position, both in relation to the broader Lebanese diaspora and to the very idea of Lebanese emigration itself. This tension is especially perplexing given that Shias ...

Lebanon’s Shia Bloc and the Emigrant Vote Dilemma

Lebanese emigrants have found themselves entangled in a crisis not of their making—namely, the existential crisis of the Shia community amid unfolding developments across the Middle East. Calls to amend the provision governing emigrant voting—whether by assigning them to Electoral District 16 or allowing them to vote for MPs in their home ...

Lebanon at a Crossroads: Chaos or a Place in the New Regional Order

Lebanon is closely monitoring the unfolding Iranian-Israeli war - a conflict it has kept at arm’s length, but whose fallout is certain to reach its borders. The real test is whether the government will be able to leverage the outcome to its advantage. Hezbollah resents being forced to remain on the sidelines of a war it sees as a sacred duty, ...

Post-May 25, 2000: A String of Blunders

A quarter-century is a brief chapter in the life of a nation. But for a population held hostage for decades by war and relentless existential crises – driven by the unchecked ambitions of regional powers and factions – it can feel like an era. On May 25, 2000, Hezbollah staged a major celebration to mark the withdrawal of the last Israeli ...