Mustafa Fahs

Luxury cars, modern residential towers, the rehabilitation of infrastructure, and most notably, the restoration of the historic al-Rashid Street with its shops, bookstores, and cafes in the old city center: Baghdad is brimming with foreign delegations, suffocating traffic jams, and the bustle of…

Several weeks before the Israeli assault on the Qatari capital, US Special Envoy for Syria and Lebanon Ambassador Tom Barrack had said that Tel Aviv believes the Sykes–Picot borders as meaningless during an interview with Mario Nawfal. “In Israel's mind, these lines that were created by Sykes-Picot…

If the two sides of a dialogue are identical or nearly identical, it becomes nothing more than a conversation in which both repeat the same things back to each other, reproducing the same narrative. The absence of any back-and-forth can be deadly for those engaging in it: it drains vitality,…

In his masterpiece “The Train Passed by” Mahmoud Darwish writes: "I had been waiting on the sidewalk. Travelers were rushing to their daily lives ....and I continued to wait." In Lebanon, we are waiting collectively: Lebanon’s state and its people, its sects and parties, its…

The world is changing, the region is changing, and Lebanon is changing, but Nabih Berri refuses to change. He seems allergic to change, or even to the term itself. The 2019 Lebanese uprising against the corrupt ruling clique generated momentum for major political, social, cultural, and economic…

In South Lebanon, the faces of the massacre’s survivors were terrifying and harrowing. Amid the rubble of what used to be homes, the people are visibly apprehensive, in pain, and broken. No one was celebrating Eid-Al-Adha, not even the children. Both north and south of the Litani River, everyone in…

The political, economic, humanitarian, and spiritual dynamism of Saudi Arabia has consistently been leveraged to enhance its regional and international standing and amplify the Kingdom's actions in support of Arab and Islamic neighbors. Arab and regional integration and solidarity (humanitarian,…

The Iraqi government has turned much of its attention to ensuring the success of the upcoming Arab League Summit in Baghdad. The path from the capital and back has been brimming with political positions and visitors, while decision-makers are seeking to stabilize the country to strengthen…

Confusion in Baghdad comes in many forms—political, economic, electoral, both domestic and foreign. The Shiite political house has splintered into multiple factions; its roof is full of cracks and its walls crumbling, within which contradictions gather—moderates, ideologues, and armed factions…

Between Aoun's insistence on the state monopolizing arms and Hezbollah reverting back to its position on maintaining its arms, reproducing its previous taboos and reiterating the notorious threat “to cut off the hand that reaches for the weapons,” Lebanon (its state, people, sectarian and political…