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Michael Young

Michael Young

Columnist
Michael Young is a Lebanon affairs columnist for The National. He is the senior editor at the Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, where he also edits Diwan, the blog of the Carnegie Middle East Programme. A former journalist, he is the author of 'The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle' (Simon and Schuster, 2010), selected by The Wall Street Journal as one of its 10 notable books for 2010.
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A polling station in Nabatieh, South Lebanon, last month. Lists backed by the country’s sectarian political parties were largely victorious. EPA
Lebanon's local elections have taken the country back to square one

The results have further entrenched the sectarian parties – at a time when regional dynamics demand the opposite

June 04, 2025
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun, centre, with departing US chairman of the ceasefire monitoring committee Jasper Jeffers, left, and his successor, Michael Leeney, on April 30. AFP
The US needs to stop undermining Lebanon's credibility

Washington is giving Hezbollah an excuse to delay disarmament by stalling conditions of its ceasefire proposal for Lebanon – mainly Israeli withdrawal

May 20, 2025
Hezbollah is believed to have weapon caches across the country, despite Israel's bombing campaign. AP
It would take a lot more than sheer force to disarm Hezbollah

Lebanon's new government knows the way to consolidate state power is through a more gradual approach

May 07, 2025
Hezbollah fighters at the funeral of their military commander Ibrahim Aqil in Beirut's southern suburbs last September. AFP
Why Aoun is treading cautiously on the issue of disarming Hezbollah

Such an outcome is tied to the ongoing US-Iran talks, but domestic politics is also a factor

April 22, 2025
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun meets US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, centre, and US ambassador to Lebanon Lisa Johnson at the presidential palace in Baabda. EPA
US demands to disarm Hezbollah have made Lebanon uneasy but it must act now

If Aoun's government doesn't act, Israel could resume the conflict, with no opposition from the US

April 09, 2025
People attend a mass funeral of Hezbollah fighters who died during fights with the Israeli army before the ceasefire, in Kfar Kila village, southern Lebanon, this month. EPA
Why any plans on Israel’s part to normalise ties with Lebanon would be a no go

Most Lebanese want an end to hostilities with Israel, but do not necessarily embrace normalisation

March 26, 2025
A portrait of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a flag of the Amal movement hang in the rubble of a destroyed house in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia. AFP
Hezbollah stands to lose from Lebanon’s reconstruction nightmare

As Syria and Gaza also seek funds, there is unlikely to be enough to rebuild the country

March 12, 2025
A mourner holds a picture of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during the funeral on the outskirts of Beirut, on February 23. AFP
Hezbollah’s strategy now lies in ruins

The funeral of the former Hezbollah leader was seen as an occasion to unify ranks, but without clarity from Iran on its future the party remains directionless

February 25, 2025
A portrait of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is seen as demonstrators wave Lebanese flags in Martyr Square. Getty Images
Few in post-war Lebanon had an impact like Rafic Hariri’s

The reconstruction process he drove was thorny, but it would have overwhelmed most other prime ministers

February 12, 2025
People in the southern Lebanese town of Aishiyeh dance to celebrate the election of their native Joseph Aoun as President. AFP
To reform Lebanon’s political system, its new leaders need to re-examine the Taif Accord

The problem lies not in the post-civil war agreement itself, but the what followed

January 29, 2025
Lebanon's former army chief Joseph Aoun is now the country's president. Reuters
Aoun may be a lever for foreign powers in Lebanon, but right now that’s no bad thing

Like Lebanese, regional and global powers are tired of seeing Lebanon bled dry from within

January 14, 2025
A portrait of slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah sits amid debris in the Rouweiss neighbourhood of Beirut's southern suburb. AFP
What does a possible Pax Americana mean for Lebanon in 2025?

A country that is often torn apart by regional rivalries is bound to be affected by a fundamental realignment in the Middle East

January 01, 2025
Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun in Beirut, on December 16. AP Photo
Will Joseph Aoun be Lebanon's next president?

Walid Joumblatt's support for the army commander is telling, even as Speaker Nabih Berri is opposed

December 24, 2024
(L-R) Lebanon's late Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Syria's Bashar Al Assad and his Iranian counterpart at the time, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at an official dinner in Damascus on February 25, 2010. AFP
The effect of Syrian events on Hezbollah

Hezbollah may be making a similar mistake as Al Assad, who refused to negotiate when he had the upper hand

December 11, 2024
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaking during a memorial event for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Tehran. AFP
Iran's grip on Lebanon could backfire

Tehran might benefit temporarily from its apparent takeover of Hezbollah but the long term consequences for Lebanon – and Iran's ideology – would not be favourable to them

November 20, 2024

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