After the car bomb attack last month in southern Beirut which left 30 people dead and hundreds injured, Hezbollah now finds itself in a position similar to its enemies in…
Nicholas Blanford
Nicholas Blanford
Nicholas Blanford is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs, specializing in Lebanon and Syria, and an expert on Hezbollah’s military activities. Based in Beirut since 1994, he also serves as a consultant and defense correspondent for IHS/Jane’s, with previous roles at The Christian Science Monitor, The Times, The Daily Star, and Al-Jazeera America. Blanford has reported from multiple Middle Eastern countries, regularly participates in seminars, and has authored books including Warriors of God and Killing Mr Lebanon.
-
-
The European Union decision to blacklist not all of Hezbollah but only the Shiite organization’s “military wing” last month was a mid-way solution intended to convey displeasure toward the Lebanese…
-
The battle last month in Saida in which extremist, Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir was dispatched from his mosque was a moment of triumph for the Lebanese army. The country…
-
The evolution of Hezbollah’s public discourse on its emerging role in Syria over the past year illustrates the organization’s deft ability to shape a narrative acceptable to its core Shia…
-
The deterioration of security along Lebanon’s northern border from Arida on the Mediterranean to Masharih Al Qaa in the east presents the Lebanese army with an insurmountable challenge. The western…
-
Israel has had an easy time on the Golan Heights since 1974, when a United States-brokered ceasefire arrangement came into effect and a United Nations observer force deployed in a…
-
The deadly February 1 gun battle in the Bekaa town of Arsal illustrates two dangerous ongoing developments in Lebanon: firstly, the rising sectarian bitterness felt by Sunnis against Shias, and…
-
There are growing indications that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is using some form of chemical agent against areas held by the opposition. Speculation has been rife for…
-
Lebanon is presented with the most serious challenges it has faced in the past decade. The economy is struggling, the internal security situation is deteriorating and the country’s neighbors pose real threats. In…
-
At the end of 2011, it was still unclear whether or not Hezbollah was playing a direct role in assisting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian refugees streaming into…