Elias Harfoush
Lebanese writer and journalist

When Russia and Iran Are Your Neighbors

Nothing is more complicated than distressing neighbors. If they live near your home, you have no choice but to leave, moving to take up residence elsewhere, whatever the cost. However, what would you do if you lived next to an aggressive country, given that moving your country elsewhere isn’t…

The Lebanese Citizens’ Dream

Lebanese citizens have nothing left but the luxury to dream of the new year. Nothing happening today gives the Lebanese grounds to await a less miserable future. They only have dreams. The dream of getting back the fruit of their life’s labor deposited in banks. The dream of light during their…

On Hezbollah’s Lebanese Identity

When the issue of the need to confront the extensive role that Hezbollah plays both at home and in the region is raised, a clearly harmful matter impacting internal stability and Lebanon having normal relations with its neighbors and the rest of the world, one hears: this is a Lebanese party whose…

Election After Failed Revolutions

Three Arab countries' citizens are preparing to head to the polls. They could be followed by a fourth, Tunisia, if President Kais Saied's plan to bring Tunisian politics in order goes smoothly. Iraq is holding parliamentary elections in two days. After the Iraqi elections, Libyans will head to the…

The Real Obstacle to the Government Formation in Lebanon

This is a power that does not stem from any authenticity, or from expansive representation within its community, representation which has, in any case, been called into question according to the latest referenda. Nor does it stem from its “historical” achievements. This power comes from the full…

A Reprimand Well-Deserved

It is difficult to find a country other than Lebanon whose leaders are subjected to the insults directed at them by the French government, while they continue to open their doors and arms to every official coming from Paris to visit them. In other countries, where officials respect the dignity…

A Syrian Ray of Hope in a German Court?

Justice will not bring the Syrian regime’s victims back to life, and it will not alleviate the pain suffered by those who were tortured by the criminals who work for that regime. However, justice opens a window of hope, no matter how small, that the crimes will not be repeated and that those who…

Washington and Tehran… Who Will Back Down First?

In the way it deals with its relationship with the Joe Biden administration, Iran is behaving as though it is the “victor” of the US presidential election. It is putting conditions on recommitting to the nuclear deal, striving to put its cards in order with allies, as it is doing with Moscow and…

Trump’s Shadow Looms over Biden’s Presidency

Normally, US presidents become history once their terms have expired. They retire on their farm and keep themselves busy writing memoirs and remembering the leaders they met, the deals they made, the laws they signed and the capitals they visited. They become outside the world of politics and…

Israeli Generals and Making Peace

“The generals in the army, who have seen and experienced the horrors of war, are the ones who want peace the most”- Israeli Defense Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz. In contrast to the Netanyahu-led Likud Bloc’s politicians, who are driven by religious ideology and an insistence…