The ayatollahs made out of the Lebanese Shi'ite community’s defense one of their main goals in foreign policy. They were daring when creating Hezbollah, a new political force equipped with both well-armed and well-trained militias. All these actors know of the favorable demographics and that the key is to wait patiently. If Hezbollah is able to block the government, if it is able to convince the rest of Lebanese society that peace depends on that they accept Hezbollah’s leadership and, from that starting point condition, they reach a new political agreement, the victory will be in its hands.

If Syria is serious, it might as well start closing the offices Hamas has in Damascus, put a stop to all the aid which is being provided to the guerrillas in Iraq and condemn the killing of their opponents in Lebanon. Otherwise, any treaty would just vanish into thin air. Download PDF Descargar PDF

Today Lebanon is on the verge of political collapse, a defiant Hezbollah has rearmed to the hilt and rumors of another war with Israel are rife. And as Lebanon slides further into chaos, UNIFIL itself has become a tempting target, so much so that it now spends most of its time trying to protect itself. Download PDF Descargar PDF

The Government should become fully aware of the fact that its model for deploying its forces abroad has become outdated in the new strategic environment in which our troops are required to operate. To offer our troops as a contingent in a UN force, an organisation that has never enjoyed any success over and above observation tasks in conflictive or hostile environments, is quite frankly suicidal. Download PDF Descargar PDF

November 14 marks three months since UN Resolution 1701 brought an end to the 34-day conflict in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah militants. Just before the resolution was adopted last August, a number of European Union countries — including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden were quick to pledge troops to reinforce the international peace-keeping force known as the UN In-terim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), ostensibly with the aim of transforming the cessation of hostilities into a durable ceasefire. Download PDF

Russia’s determination to under-mine the U.S. policy in the Middle East may well weaken U.S. power. But opposing punitive sanctions for Iran at the U.N. and endorsing HAMAS is likely to cost Russia dearly. Download PDF Descargar PDF

On Feb. 22, terrorists bombed the Askariya shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack shocked Iraqis and infu-riated Shiites. The Iranian govern-ment sought to direct public anger toward Washington. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei blamed \"intel-ligence agencies of the occupiers of Iraq and the Zionists.\" Iran\'s Arabic-language al-Alam television re-peated the accusations on Feb. 23. Because al-Alam is broadcast terres-trially, it is particularly influential among poor Iraqis who cannot af-ford a satellite dish. Download PDF

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