Damascus must choose between foreign dependency and energy sovereignty in redeveloping its energy sector
Analysis
Plugged In, Left Out: Lebanon’s Digital Learning Trap
Tech solutions risk worsening inequities at public schools
Fields of Ruin: Lebanese Farmers’ Scorched Harvest
How the war impacted Lebanon’s food supply chain and how to fix it
No Refuge: Amid War, Scapegoating of Syrians Continues in Lebanon
Lebanese politicians still blame their failures on marginalised refugees
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: Lebanon’s War Crimes Case Against Israel
Assessing the Israeli army’s violations of international humanitarian law
Profit or Protection: The Fallout of Lebanon’s Housing Crisis
Israel’s war has triggered a housing crisis that risks Lebanon’s social stability
Resistance Revived: BDS Movement Gains Momentum Amid Gaza Genocide
Solidarity with Palestine spreads despite attempts to silence activism
Fighting Words: An Analysis of Hezbollah’s Narrative since the War on Gaza
How the Party of God’s narrative has evolved, and what it means.
Arab Diplomacy Unmasked: Behind the Veil of Unity on Gaza
Arab states’ public support for Gaza contrasts with their strategic ties with Israel, revealing a gap between rhetoric and realpolitik.
Sayrafa Explained: How Lebanon’s Central Bank Quells Unrest by Subsidising Elites
“A weak and inefficient monetary tool”
Fanning the Flames: How Misinformation on Social Media Exacerbates Community Tensions
Social media enhances social connections on digital networks but has also facilitated the rapid dissemination of misinformation.
Sign of the Times: The information that Tripolitans need to survive
Since the beginning of Lebanon’s financial collapse in 2019, access to information has become more critical than ever.
Spoiled Ballot: Elections Uncertain as Municipalities’ Mandates Set to End
Why Lebanon needs to hold local polls in May.
New EDL Tariffs: A Step Towards the Light or a Shot in the Dark?
Lebanon’s residents likely to keep paying for the chronic mismanagement of EDL.
Uphill Battle: Lebanon’s Cholera Fight Not Over
Cholera likely to stay without serious reforms to Lebanese water sector
Short Circuits: Why Lebanon’s electricity sector is still broken
Infrastructure, political, and legal barriers to reforming Lebanon’s broken electricity sector.
Eternal Compromise: The Ambiguities of UNIFIL in Lebanon
Peacekeeping mission reading between the lines to keep the peace
Constitutional Mayhem: No Government, No President
Lebanon is poised for executive-level disarray ahead of a presidential vacuum and caretaker cabinet.
Smoke And Mirrors: All that glitters is not (yet) gold with subsidized housing loan
Millions promised in housing funding would leave most vulnerable behind
Comic Book Court: Lebanon’s Supreme Council is a well-practiced exercise in futility
Legal loopholes and self-interested gatekeepers will likely prevent justice from running its course
The Scramble For Solar: Safety and environmental concerns loom over renewable energy
Lack of regulation and proper disposal cast shade over Lebanon’s solar prospects
Faulty Foundations: Bedrock issues with Lebanon’s housing
Lebanese are being forced to live at risk in the name of private property
Morally Bankrupt: The legal solution to the banking crisis no one is talking about
Lebanese banks are avoiding the legal implications of declaring bankruptcy.
Open Secret: Lebanon moves to replace archaic banking secrecy, at first glance
While a step in the right direction, Lebanon’s draft banking secrecy law remains riddled with loopholes and avenues for abuse of power.
It’s a Trap: Don’t vote blank
How blank votes help the traditional political class win seats
Path Dependence: Why voters turn to traditional parties over independents In Lebanon’s election
A new nationally representative study on voter intentions reveals hope for independents, while showing traditional parties maintain their voter base through tradition, identity politics, and political clientelism.
Getting Serious: Could EU sanctions force fair elections in Lebanon?
The European Union has positioned itself as lead guarantor for Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, with sanctions and observers in place. But history suggests that dirty electoral tricks will go unpunished.
Double-Dealing: Financial elites loom over Lebanon’s proposed capital controls
These informal capital controls – which have no basis in law – facilitate rampant discrimination between well-connected elites and most other depositors.
Vague Intentions: IMF ‘deal’ skirts accountability for Lebanon’s elites
Without details, the IMF’s conditional staff-level agreement does more to entrench political and banking elites than to resolve Lebanon’s financial disaster.
Excuses, Excuses: Lebanon’s political class looking for a reason to postpone elections
Elections in Lebanon are currently set for 15 May, but throughout March the ruling political class has alluded to conditions that would buy them time to avoid holding the elections as scheduled.
Market Incorrection: New Competition Law Allows Status Quo to Continue
The law, which civil society groups and the international community have demanded for decades, purports to liberate Lebanon’s private sector from control by politically connected cartels.
End Of The Line: Day of reckoning must loom over Lebanon’s elites
As long as the global food and energy crisis continues, Lebanese households – which rely overwhelmingly on imported products – will start skipping meals, eating less, losing nutrients, and falling ill.
Stuck In Resilience: Mental health in Lebanon
As mental health problems spike due to the economic crisis, the Beirut Port explosion, and the COVID-19 pandemic – to name but a few – psychiatrists and psychologists are leaving Lebanon in record numbers.
Stillborn: Lebanon’s public transport announcement dead on arrival
Since 1985, the Lebanese government has made at least 13 such announcements, plans, proposals and / or studies about new public transport projects – an average of one every 2.4 years.
Russian Roulette: Ukraine exposes Lebanon’s dangerous food security game
The Ukrainian crisis is merely the latest alarming threat to Lebanese food security in recent years. It follows on the heels of the country’s economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Beirut Port explosion – a series of unambiguous warning shots.