Word: lebanonization
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...more apprehensive about Lebanon's future, perhaps because I'd been covering not just the anti-Syrian Cedar Revolution demonstrations, but also ones organized by Hizballah, which viewed the effort to push Syria out of Lebanon as a rearguard attack against the anti-Israeli resistance. It seemed to me that leaving Hizballah, Lebanon's largest political party and its only armed militia, out of calculations for the future was unwise. "Do you ever have any contact with Hizballah these days?" I asked the official. Not only is it illegal for U.S. government officials to have dealings with terrorist organizations...
...Hizballah victory at the polls would put the Obama Administration in a quandary: should the U.S. continue to support a country that is run by what it designates as a terrorist organization? So far, U.S. officials have said only that they will review American aid to Lebanon - $1.1 billion since 2006 - in the event of a Hizballah victory. But any review of U.S. policy toward Lebanon also needs to ask: is it time to talk with Hizballah...
From its early days of car bombs and kidnappings, Hizballah has matured into one of the world's most formidable guerilla forces. The group continues to have legitimacy among many Lebanese because it - not the Lebanese Army or the United Nations - forced Israel out of southern Lebanon in 2000 after 18 years of occupation. But instead of encouraging Israel to settle the grievances left over from that occupation, U.S. policy has focused on disarming Hizballah by force. This culminated in 2006 with the Bush Administration giving Israel the green light to bomb Hizballah into submission. But that war only reinforced...
...only way to de-fang Hizballah is to address the issue that motivated the creation of the group: the Middle East conflict itself. As long as Arabs are at war with Israel, one group or another will find a way to infiltrate Lebanon's fragmented society to create a front line against Israel. But if the U.S. pushes Israel to address Lebanese grievances, if Israel engages its neighbors in a sincere peace process, then Hizballah will have less and less justification to exist as an independent armed entity. Indeed, as a step towards decommissioning its arms, Hizballah could even become...
...pictures of Lebanon in crisis...