Commentaries

The U.S.–Iranian understanding announced under Pakistani sponsorship has reopened the door to a new political phase in the Middle East. However, the Lebanese arena quickly emerged as the first practical test of this understanding’s ability to endure and translate into realities on the ground. While the agreement was expected to reduce tensions across the various fronts linked to the U.S.–Iran…

Islamic circles – or what may be described as the “committed public sphere”[1] – have undergone significant transformations in recent years, particularly amid growing discussions surrounding the “decline” or “waning” of political Islam and the retreat of Salafi movements after the Arab Spring. Yet, despite widespread discourse about the crisis of these currents, this has not necessarily meant the disappearance…

The Lebanese-Israeli negotiations have entered, after the third round, an entirely different phase from anything Lebanon has experienced since the April 1996 Understanding and the arrangements that followed the July 2006 war. The issue is no longer confined to localized security arrangements or the management of limited confrontations along the southern border. Instead, it has become part of a broader…

Military strikes are designed to achieve specific security objectives, but they also generate profound social meanings. The insights captured in the Politics and Society Institute’s report on Syrian digital discourse following the May 2026 Jordanian strikes on southern Syria reveal that the meaning constructed by the Syrian public extended far beyond Amman’s declared objectives. Syrians did not focus on drug…

Despite Benjamin Netanyahu’s rhetoric about pressing ahead with a project of Israeli regional dominance, alongside political discourse centered on reshaping the Middle East and transforming Israel’s security doctrine from defense to regional influence, it is becoming increasingly clear that important reassessments are now taking place within Israel regarding the lessons drawn from the wars it has fought since October 7,…

On April 18th, 2026, “Jabhat Al Amal Al Islami” party announced its intention to rename itself as “Al Ummah” Party. When the government approved the change a few days later, what drew attention was not what the party changed, but what it chose to keep: the green color held its place at the core of the party’s visual identity, the…

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s visit to Syria comes at a complex transitional moment in the region, not only because it represents the first visit of this level since the major transformations Syria has undergone, but also because it reflects the fact that Lebanese-Syrian relations are no longer merely in a formative phase. Rather, they have already entered a stage…

Hours of waiting at the King Hussein Bridge may prove more consequential than major political decisions. From this perspective, the significance of the recent agreement signed between the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and Royal Jordanian Airlines becomes clear. Signed in the presence of the Ministers of Awqaf and Transport, the five-year agreement aims to provide integrated services for…

Lebanon today does not appear to be standing at the threshold of a political settlement so much as it is embedded within an intensive phase of crisis management—one in which balances are being carefully regulated to prevent explosion, while the conditions for a genuine resolution remain absent. The intersecting political and field-level indicators suggest that the key regional and international…

The announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the launch of direct negotiations with Lebanon, in parallel with U.S. efforts to convene a preparatory meeting in Washington, marked a turning point in the course of the ongoing war. It shifted the Lebanese file from the framework of open military confrontation to the threshold of an unstable negotiating track. This…