Ghassan Charbel

Sessions of the United Nations General Assembly have lost much of their glow, and much of the hope once invested in them. Leaders go to renew their wager on an awakening of international legitimacy, however late. Before that, they go to address their own peoples from this international balcony- and…

An observer might get the impression that the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran was closer to a memorandum of misunderstanding. The US wanted more from the war than what the memorandum provides, while Iran wanted something completely different. Donald Trump stresses that the war…

War in the field is vastly different from war on paper. Brilliance in planning does not grant immunity from surprises. Experience dictates that while a ruler knows when he goes to war, he does not know when he will return from it. The return is determined by the condition of the enemy or adversary,…

Is it true that, after six months of confrontation, the region remains trapped in a situation of near-defeat and near-victory, where near-defeat is not enough to force one to swallow the bitter pill of submission, and near-victory is insufficient to impose a surrender? Is it also true that Trump…

Anxious times test both nations and men. Most countries tend to retreat before the storm, settling for attempts to limit the damage while accepting a future existence in a world shaped by others. Other countries choose to rise to their national and international responsibilities, participating in…

Officially, the 60-day ceasefire between Iran and the United States, established under the memorandum of understanding, has expired. In reality, it was never a true ceasefire, as it was punctuated by an exchange of strikes, further compounded by announcements from both sides that the memorandum of…

For decades, the Middle East has resembled a massive ship sailing amid storms, mines, dreams, and illusions. It is a ship carrying Arabs, Persians, Turks, and Kurds—Sunnis, Shiites, Jews, and Christians. The passengers hold divergent memories: days of glory they yearn for, and days of defeat they…

The current crisis cannot be reduced to a mere US-Iranian dispute that has recently escalated into a direct confrontation. It is inaccurate to frame the entire situation as a deep-rooted misunderstanding between Tehran and Washington. While the US-Iranian dimension of the crisis is significant,…

I asked the man who is in the thick of it for his assessment of the situation in southern Lebanon. He replied: "Part of our territory is occupied. It is a hostage in the hands of the Israeli army. I wish the Lebanese army were capable of recovering the occupied land by its own forces, but that is…

In South Lebanon, visitors are overcome by many bitter feelings. These feelings begin with advice not to approach the "occupied zone" too closely. How harsh it is to hear that the border villages within it are no longer villages but mass graves of rubble. How dreadful it is to live as the Israeli…