Mustafa Fahs

The road back from Washington is never the same as the road there. Travel between Washington and the capitals of the Middle East is rarely a routine diplomatic event - least of all when the destinations are Baghdad and Beirut, the two capitals separated by geography have been bound by fate since…

Between geographical constants and political shifts, the Eastern Mediterranean is undergoing a historic reconfiguration. Political boundaries, ideological barriers, and dogmatic regimes are receding in favor of shared interests and historical commonalities. This realignment of interests comes in…

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has introduced a different dimension to Syria's relationship with Lebanon compared to all those who preceded him in ruling Damascus. His approach to the dynamics and durability of relations between the two states and the two peoples marks a complete break with…

In waiting for the clouds to clear from the American-Iranian understanding and its terse provisions, and to see whether what is announced will differ from what has been kept secret; in waiting to identify the “relative victor” and the “relative loser,” and for the contours of a new strategic…

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has fulfilled his promise. The official June 6 announcement to begin developing and operating President René Moawad Airport in Qlayaat marks a foundational step that has been delayed for decades. The issue is not simply the addition of a new aviation facility to…

The elites of the Iranian regime have succeeded in absorbing the first blow, averting a vacuum in decision-making. Their rapid absorption of the shock has enabled them to maintain control and brought hardliners who had long operated in the shadows, its most radical military and political figures,…

“Hezbollah” is struggling to impose a single narrative on the southern massacre, or a single interpretation of it, and views any dissenting opinion as “treason” or a “stabbing in the back of the sacrifices.” Its goal is to prevent its own community, which carried it for years, from saying what it…

Between the natural state and the parallel state that stands in its place, especially in functional terms, the Shiite duo (Hezbollah and Amal Movement) has succeeded in entrenching sectarianism through a distorted iteration of older failed Lebanese models. In truth, the duo’s conduct at the height…

In the calculus of domestic politics, Tehran claims victory, relying on the premise that the regime did not fall, despite the opacity surrounding its hierarchy and decision-making process. It is as though it has adopted the same logic as the armed groups it created in neighboring countries, through…

Between two Lebanese right-wing camps, each with its own narrative, its sacred values, its certainties, its salvation and its story about the other, stands Nawaf Salam. They do not merely disagree; they tear up geography and erase history, even as they share the same country, political system, and…