Sam Menassa

The results of the US midterms went well beyond the usual swing of seats between the two parties. They amounted to a blue tsunami that turned the balance of power upside down. By taking both chambers of Congress and breaking into Republican strongholds, the Democrats delivered a sweeping message of…

It is hard to say with certainty what the recent Israeli elections will produce, amid shifting balances of party power, political and social divisions, and the fragile governing coalitions they may yield. The upcoming American midterm elections are no less important, since they test the…

The affair of the explosives transported from the Bekaa to Beirut has dispelled hopes that the second anniversary of the assassination of the former secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, would be an occasion for reviewing the party's military and political choices in light of its heavy losses and of…

The Houthi attacks on Saudi airports and passenger terminals go beyond political messaging. They endanger civilians and strike at security and economic life. This escalation by an armed group outside the state raises a question larger than how to stop the attacks: can it be treated as a…

Operation Dawn of Yemen, launched last week by Yemeni government forces with air support from the Saudi-led coalition, aims to recover the institutions of the state and end Houthi control of Sanaa. It raises a question that goes beyond military confrontation to the capacity of international and…

Mocha is not on Lebanon’s border, nor does Mayun Island overlook the eastern Mediterranean. Yet Houthi control over both could have direct repercussions for Lebanon. The transformation of the Houthis from an illegitimate armed group controlling key parts of Yemen into a more entrenched regional…

The US administration considers that it won the war with Iran. But this has reinforced the prevailing impression, particularly across much of the media, that Washington has not yet achieved its objectives, especially since the confrontation continues in various forms. That does not mean Iran…

The debate in Lebanon turns on the vacuum that the end of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission might leave behind. But the more useful question is not whether these forces should be kept, or a similar force substituted for them, but whether Lebanon is ready to move from…

The Turkish-Israeli tension is no longer merely a reflection of the disagreement over Gaza or of the political enmity between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Developments in Syria and Lebanon reveal that the relationship has moved to a deeper level of…

The Israeli elections set for October 27 carry exceptional weight- not only because they could close Benjamin Netanyahu's long chapter, but because they are being held amid upheavals stretching from Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria to the US-Iranian war and its regional fallout. Gadi Eisenkot has emerged…