BEIRUT: Tucked away off of Hamra’s Jeanne d’Arc Street sits a room full of books maybe the size of a generous walk-in closet. Shelves are stocked from floor to ceiling, with rows of spines that guide the eye through colorful patterns and designs. To the passersby, the space is lit with a warm glow. […]

  As President Obama works to outline a strategy against the growing ISIS threat in the Middle East, he’s come to Tampa to talk with top military leaders from the United States and around the world. The president spent the morning at MacDill Air Force Base, home to United States Central Command. He received a […]

  United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed regret over the deep political rift in Lebanon as party leaders so far failed to elect a new head of state and overcome their “individual interests.” He stressed as he spoke to journalists at the world body’s New York Headquarters, days ahead of opening the high-level segment of […]

  Dramatic footage obtained by CNN shows Christians in the southeastern Chinese city of Wenzhou barricading themselves into their church to keep hundreds of riot police at bay and save their church cross from confiscation. Since the beginning of the year, Communist Party officials have been demolishing churches in surrounding Zhejiang province, and removing crosses […]

  BEIRUT: The World Lebanese Cultural Union pledged $2 million to the Army Tuesday, after launching a new military support fund set to be financed by the Lebanese diaspora. The head of the WLCU, Albert Metta, announced the formation of the new donation fund during a national conference for the Lebanese Army in France Tuesday. […]

  The Army Intelligence had detained recently a “dangerous” Saudi national, reportedly the leader of a group affiliated to the Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant, As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Saudi national, whose identity remained unknown, was arrested at the Rafik Hariri International Airport as he arrived from Turkey. (Link)

Cheikh Malek el-Khazen here explains Israeli-Lebanese relations. He is heir to the House of Khazen, of the Lebanese nobility.

What is the general Lebanese opinion on Israel?

Officially, Lebanon is at a state of war against Israel. Currently, the borders are being supervised by UNFIL forces (mainly forces from European and Asian countries) in addition to the Lebanese army. Lebanon is a small country, but it comprises of 18 recognized religious sects. The main two religions are Christianity (the Maronite Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East) and Islam (Shi’a and Sunni). There is also the Druze minority religion, and there is a small Jewish population. Because of the diversity, there are very few topics where all Lebanese agree, but on at least one thing we can: that Israel is unacceptably hostile towards Lebanon. In Lebanon, Israeli war planes and drones, without provocation, breach our air space on a daily basis, citing “security reasons”. In addition, these forces sometimes stage mock attacks on Lebanese cities and emit sonic booms that frighten civilians. It is perhaps needless to say that relations are very unfriendly.

How was Israel involved in the Lebanese Civil War? It seems that a good amount of anti-Israel sentiment can be traced to that point. Were Christians under-supported by the Israelis?

The Lebanese Civil War is extremely complex, but it reminds me of Iraq’s current state. Whereas, in Iraq, their war started because of their invasion in Kuwait in the early 1990s, and it is currently very heavily sectarian — Kurds on one side, Arab Sunni on another side, and Shi’a on another – in Lebanon, the war started in response to the Palestinian threat and invasion of Lebanese cities. It ended in 1990, after Syrian forces invaded, and our country, too, is highly sectarian. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and later invaded the south of Lebanon until 2000, when Ehud Barak finally retracted Israeli forces.

As I understand, tension has also very much increased since the 2006 Lebanon War, which caused your country, conservatively, to lose at least $5 billion. Do you agree?

http://catholicanalysis.org/2014/09/15/a-cheikhs-summary-of-israeli-lebanese-relations/

  WHEN the long, grim history of Christianity’s disappearance from the Middle East is written, Ted Cruz’s performance last week at a conference organized to highlight the persecution of his co-religionists will merit at most a footnote. But sometimes a footnote can help illuminate a tragedy’s unhappy whole. For decades, the Middle East’s increasingly beleaguered […]

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  French President Francois Hollande highlighted on Monday the need to preserve Lebanon’s unity and sovereignty, while emphasizing the role of the army in protecting the country. He stressed the importance of supporting the Lebanese army and properly equipping it. He made his remarks at an international meeting held in Paris aimed at supporting Iraq […]