Special Focus – Southern Lebanon, An Arena of Contestation

As the Lebanese political system remains bitterly divided, with an absent president and an idle parliament, and the civil war in Syria continues unrelentingly toward greater destruction, southern Lebanon may emerge, once again, as a battlefield. The territory is an area of contestation between fiercely opposed regional forces: between Iran, its proxy Hizballah, and their ally in Damascus, on the one hand, and Israel, Egypt and the Arab Gulf monarchies, on the other. It is precisely for this reason that we have decided to highlight the recent history of south Lebanon for our July: Special Focus – Southern Lebanon, An Arena of Contestation.