This is Beirut

From Armed Deterrence to Durable Peace: Rethinking Shiite Security in Lebanon

Marwan El Amine, 30/01 09:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Israel Lebanese Army Shia

Despite failing to instill ideological allegiance to Iran's Wilayat al-Faqih among Lebanon's Shia, Hezbollah has succeeded in forging a sense of collective belonging to Iran’s political project. The party achieved this more consequential outcome by recasting its weapons as a political doctrine and overarching identity, portrayed as superior to ...

Who are the Shia Opposition Seeking to Break Hezbollah’s Stranglehold?

Claudia Groeling, 16/01 19:29 - Reading : 9 minute(s)

Lebanon Shia Opposition Hezbollah Amal Disarmament Israel

Lebanon’s upcoming parliamentary elections, coming on the heels of the 2024 Hezbollah–Israel war that devastated the organization and its core constituencies, have reopened the question of Shia political representation. For decades, Lebanese political discourse has treated the Shia community as a unified political bloc, electorally ...

Lebanon’s Collective Trauma Needs Peace

Salam El Zaatari, 2025-12-11 15:00 - Reading : 6 minute(s)

Lebanon Syria Hezbollah Sunnis Divisions Shia

There was an unmistakable irony on Monday as Lebanon’s “Sunni street” marked the first anniversary of the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime. The same community that has condemned its Shia counterparts for venerating Iran’s rulers now engages in the same political canonization, this time for Syria’s new leaders. The motorbike convoys ...

South Lebanon: Hezbollah and Christian Villages in Quiet Coexistence

Natasha Metni Torbey, 2025-11-04 16:10 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah South Lebanon Free Patriotic Movement Christians Shia

In some regions of southern Lebanon, particularly in Jezzine, Marjayoun, and Rmeish, predominantly Christian areas directly border localities where Hezbollah holds significant influence. These areas, where municipal networks, social structures, and political actors intertwine, reflect a deeply rooted sociopolitical reality shaped by geography, ...

Berri: No Cause for Concern...

Johnny Kortbawi, 2025-09-26 09:30 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Nabih Berri Speaker Shia

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri speaks only when circumstances demand it or when a message must be conveyed, whether on domestic or external fronts. He has mastered the art of choosing his words, his audience, and the medium through which they are delivered. This is the result of forty years of political shrewdness, which has taught him how to ...

When Immorality Becomes a Profession

Johnny Kortbawi, 2025-09-09 11:00 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Shia Hezbollah

There is no precise or scientific description of the moral collapse Lebanon has been experiencing for years. Yet in recent weeks, this decline has taken on unprecedented forms, with public discourse sinking to new lows. The Lebanese Shias are enduring hardships at every level. What is even more troubling is that some deliberately seek to ...

The Empty Chair Policy That No Longer Works

Elie Ziadé, 2025-09-05 12:20 - Reading : 3 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Shia Disarmament

The empty chair is not a strategy, it is a disguised escape. While the vast majority of Lebanese want a functioning state, Hezbollah maintains its destructive blocking tactics. But this approach can no longer succeed. Since replacing the Syrian patron in 2005, the pro-Iranian group has steadily taken over institutions and created a chronic ...

Hezbollah Halts University Stipends for Children of Killed Fighters

This is Beirut, 2025-07-27 14:15 - Reading : 1 minute(s)

Nawaf Salam Lebanon Hezbollah Education Shia

Hezbollah has informed the families of its members who were killed in battles of a new decision to halt all university education stipends for their children. Exclusive information obtained by Al Arabiya/Al Hadath reveals that Hezbollah’s “Martyr Foundation,” responsible for supporting the families of the deceased, has begun systematically ...

Lebanon’s Shia Bloc and the Emigrant Vote Dilemma

Johnny Kortbawi, 2025-06-27 16:05 - Reading : 2 minute(s)

Lebanon Amal Hezbollah Diaspora Vote Elections Shia

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 ...

Hezbollah Is the Antithesis of Shia Islam

Hussain Abdul-Hussain, 2025-02-25 15:30 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Lebanon Hezbollah Shia

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. ...

The Failure of a Project, Not of a Community

Michel Touma, 2024-11-04 10:15 - Reading : 5 minute(s)

Middle East Tehran Shia

Accountability is seldom found in Lebanese political life, and this is largely understandable. The societal dynamics that shape Lebanon’s social fabric—specifically the entrenched communal, regional, familial, tribal, feudal and partisan loyalties—have consistently influenced the daily lives of its people. Consequently, it is extremely ...

Shia