http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com The World Affairs Blog Network Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:24:41 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The week-old Lebanese government has made it clear that it has no intention of taking up the subject of Hizballah's arms until the distant future. For now, the matter has been relegated to the abstract and ambiguous category as  being part of the "national dialogue". This is a polite way ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/18/hizballah-arms-issue-tabled-for-now/ After five months of fierce negotiations, Lebanon finally has a cabinet. Prime Minister Rafik Hariri announced Monday that the final details had been worked out and that parties had a come to an agreement. Lebanon's deep sectarian divides provided ample obstacles during the negotiation process, but many thought that the biggest ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/11/lebanon-gets-a-cabinet/ The Israeli navy has intercepted what it claims was shipment of weapons from Iran bound for Lebanon to be used by Hizballah. The weapons were seized Wednesday off the coast of Cypress by Israeli commandos. Hizballah has denied any ties to the weapons. The weapons were being offloaded by the Israeli navy, ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/11/05/israeli-seizes-weapons-allegedly-bound-for-hizballah/ Lebanon has been without a working government since its June parliamentary elections, but now with all the major external hurdles cleared Lebanon looks to within to form its cabinet. Syria and Saudia Arabia hold tremendous influence in Lebanon, and the frosty relations between them were seen as a one of the ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/23/cabinet-formation-steady-if-slow/ Lebanon was elected yesterday to the United Nations Security Council. It is the first time since 1952 that Lebanon, a founding member of the United Nations, will serve on the council. Lebanon received 180 out of 192 votes from the General Assembly, greatly surpassing the two-thirds majority needed for Security Council ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/17/lebanon-elected-to-security-council/ King Abdullah's much anticipated visit to Damascus is expected to take place this week. Last month, Syrian President Bashar Assad traveled to Saudi Arabia to attend the opening ceremony of a new high-tech university, which had been a personal pet project of the King's. There, President Assad extended an invitation for ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/07/saudi-syrian-summit-expected-this-week/ Scores of Lebanese Shiites have recently been expelled from the United Arab Emirates, allegedly for their refusal to inform on Hizballah. The expulsion of the Lebanese nationals started after the June 7  parliamentary elections in Lebanon, but had not been widely known or reported on until the group went public. Lebanon's President ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/10/01/hundreds-of-lebanese-shiites-expelled-from-uae/ The visit of Syrian President Bashar Assad to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the opening of Saudi King Abdullah's new state-of-the-art, mixed gender university is expected to have a positive influence on Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's effort to form a cabinet. Both Syria and Saudi Arabia hold significant influence in Lebanon ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/09/25/saudi-syrian-talks-bode-well-for-beirut/ After briefly stepping down last week, Saad  Hariri has been reassigned the task of forming a new cabinet. Hariri had been trying since he was appointed prime minister back in June to come up with a cabinet  line-up that would suit the very fickle political tastes of Lebanon. Hariri submitted a ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/09/18/hariri-to-try-again/ Two katyusha rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon today, and minutes later Israel returned fire with a barrage of 14 artillery shells of its own. The rockets that were fired into Israel landed outside residential areas, and no injuries were reported as a result. The return fire from Israel also ... http://lebanon.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2009/09/11/shots-fired/