Thousands marched in central Beirut on Friday demanding a new independent government to lift Lebanon out of its deepening crisis as frustration over the country’s financial meltdown grew.
Lebanese protesters stormed government ministries in Beirut and trashed the offices of the Association of Lebanese Banks on Saturday as shots rang out in increasingly angry demonstrations o
The Lebanese are in between two dramatically different states: a restrained war is raging on the southern front, while things are normal in other areas of the country. We see the villages on the border paying dearly on behalf of the entire country. The residents are being killed and their homes and infrastructure are being destroyed, bringing to mind the scenes we had seen before the Lebanese Civil War (1975 - 1990), when Israel assaulted South Lebanon at will, creating a very perilous situation.
In navigating the thickening fog of war, ongoing US-led mediation must actively take two critical steps to pull Lebanon and Israel back from the brink and avoid a direct US-Iran confrontation: secure credible guarantees on compliance and endorse local efforts to elect an independent president.
Military victory against Hamas and Hezbollah, and even the Iran regime, is insufficient. Israel must increase regional and international awareness of the dangers posed by the Iranian axis of radical