On Tuesday, the Middle East Institute hosted a presentation by Randa Slim, a scholar at the Middle East Institute and Levant expert, which discussed the future of Hezbollah in the context of the Arab Spring. Slim addressed the way that Hezbollah views the Arab Spring, the domestic strategies of Hezbollah in the changing landscape of the Middle East, and how the Arab Spring affected the standing of Hezbollah in the ...

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S.1601, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2012 and its accompanying report.  The press release noted the committee’s difficult task of funding more with less, including “responding to the turbulent events in the Middle East and North Africa,” with a total budget of $44.64 billion, which is $6.15 billion below the President’s request.  On the Middle East and North Africa:  ...

Syrians, some with gunshot wounds, have fled into Lebanon in an attempt to escape from the brutal crackdowns taking place all over Syria.  As Syrian refugees escape to bordering towns in Lebanon and Turkey, the military has also moved near the border of both Turkey and now Lebanon. Funerals were held for about 20 protesters on Friday, however Syrian security forces killed five protesters as the funerals quickly transformed into protests ...

One person was killed and at least 7 others injured today during clashes between Sunnis and Alawites in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli. Earlier, about 600 people had gathered to protest against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The army has deployed heavily in the Bab Al-Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighborhoods to prevent further violence.

Moisés Naím, writing for the Carnegie Endowment, discusses why the United States and Europe are attacking Libya with bombs and Syria with words. He first dismisses arguments that the justification for war in Libya is oil, arguing that it would be easier for U.S. oil companies to have security under Gadhafi rather than under the chaos that has ensued.  He states that there are five reasons why the same response ...

On Tuesday, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) held a panel entitled, “Lebanon and the Arab Spring: A Congressional View of Lebanon’s Roles Amidst Historic Change in the Region.” USIP President Richard Solomon gave introductory remarks.  Mona Yacoubian, Senior Program Officer for the Middle East and Director of the Lebanon Working Group, moderated the panel.  Congressman Charles Boustany (R-LA), the son of Lebanese immigrants, offered his perspective on how ...

Writing in the New York Times, Roger Cohen stated "Osama Bin Laden is dead -- and so is an old Middle East" and noted that the recent events in the Middle East demonstrate how the al-Qaeda leader had lost touch with Arab youth who have "move irrelevant....Facebook and Twitter turned out to be far more effective agents of change than any 'martyrdom' attack on apostates, crusaders and Zionists – the ...

The Bahraini government officially accused Hezbollah of helping train anti-government opposition in an official report sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The report claims that the group has been training opposition figures at camps in both Lebanon and Iran and also accuses them of targeting other Gulf nations as well.  Bahrain also claims that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah of meeting with senior leaders of Bahrain's largest Shi'ite opposition group ...

Writing at Foreign Policy, Parag Khanna notes the new age of Pan-Arabism that is characterized by societies demanding good governance and an inclusive political process.  He states that the anti-authoritarian revolutions are "truly borderless"  following Al Jazeera's shaming of Arab autocrats -- with the exception of Bahrain -- and young activists training together across the region.  Khanna also highlights the Arab League's backing of a no-fly zone in Libya and considerations ...

Last week, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy hosted an event entitled, "Lebanon Today: Internal Politics and the Arab Spring."  Speaking at the event were May Chidiac, president of MCF Media Institute; Michael Young, opinion editor for the Beirut Daily Star; Hisham Melhem, Washington bureau chief of Al-Arabiya; and Michael Doran,  visiting professor at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. May Chidiac noted how protests in the ...