Sami Moubayed

The handwriting had been on the wall for weeks, signaling that Lebanon might explode -- at any minute.

The reason was Syria. For more than a year, battlelines have been clearly drawn between pro-Bashar al-Assad and anti-Assad politicians in Lebanon, with the March 14 Alliance desperate to see regime...

Syria's new parliament will be inaugurated this week. It will likely be packed by the Baath party and its sister parties in the National Progressive Front (NPF) that collectively won approximately 160 out of the 250 seats, similar to the quota given by the Syrian officialdom since 1973.

The Egyptian elections -- just like the revolution last year -- have distracted ordinary Syrians from the difficulties of their day-to-day lives.

In January 2011, Syrians were amazed by the will, might and courage of Egyptian youth. They spent the 18 days of the Egyptian Revolution glued to their...

There are two views floating in Syria today. Theory I says that the U.S. wants to break the Syrian-Iranian alliance through regime change in Damascus. They argue that if the regime collapses in Syria, it would result in a rapid decline for both Iran and Hezbollah. Theory II, however, claims...

The five-point programme agreed upon in Cairo on March 10 between the Arab League and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicates that Moscow is re-thinking its position, very slowly, vis-a-vis Syria. High hopes are being pinned on former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan who landed in Damascus on Saturday, mandated by...

The swearing-in of Yemen's new President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi on Saturday topped headlines in the Arab world.

Millions of young people in various Arab capitals watched with a sparkle in their eyes, seeing that once again, regime change is doable and it doesn't have to be...

The Friends of Syria conference, which took place in Tunisia on February 24, was a disaster. Neither the Syrian street nor the Syrian opposition -- both at home and in the diaspora -- were satisfied with its outcome. Naturally, nor were major stakeholders in the Syrian crisis, like Russia and...

Anthony Shadid, the celebrated Lebanese-American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner, died on Tuesday, reportedly from an asthma attack, while covering news in Syria. He was only 42.

I first met Tony nine years ago through a common friend, Oklahoma University Professor Joshua Landis, and have followed up on his...

Syria is getting a new constitution this week, 11 months after it was promised to angry demonstrators by officialdom. Such a demand, of course, is not new, having been sought by the Syrian opposition long before the uprising began in mid-March 2011. Previously, the Baathists had refused such a change,...

Two things have recently happened, both regionally and internationally, which will undoubtedly influence the course of events in Syria rather dramatically in the weeks ahead. One is Saudi Arabia's decision to stop leading from behind, as it had done in the Arab League since the uprising began in Syria in...

The Russians have been talking a lot about a Yemeni solution for Syria, without going into too much detail. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov even said it publicly, twice, in less than a week, impressed by the win-win deal between Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his opponents.

Sources close...

The Arab League Observer Mission has raised a stir since arriving in Syria last week. At first, the Syrian opposition welcomed them heartily, believing that they were there to stop the violence, and oversee implementation of an agreement that included an end to military operations and release of prisoners arrested...

"Ninety years have passed, while we stand tall like electricity posts, staring blankly into the skies, like idiots. Entire civilizations pass above our heads. Earthquakes pass beneath us and yet we feel nothing. We know nothing. And we remember nothing. Neither God agrees to stay with us, and nor do...

Depending on who one talks to in Syria, the Egyptian elections have sparked off either fear, or great inspiration -- given that they have played out nicely in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood. The seculars are panicking, to say the least, watching the victory of Islamic parties in Morocco, Tunisia,...

On February 12, 1949, two gunmen shot down 43-year-old Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna as he stood waiting for a taxi cab in Cairo. It was a classic revenge killing carried out with the tacit approval of the Egyptian government, which blamed Banna for the recent assassination of prime...

On November 11, entire neighborhoods in the Palestinian camps of Damascus were decorated with photos of Yasser Arafat, marking the 7th anniversary of the Palestinian leader's death. That, of course, was no coincidence, since it struck a raw nerve with Damascus-based Hamas leaders, who detested the late PLO...

Moves by an Iraqi Sunni-dominated province to demand autonomy from Baghdad and rumors of coup d'etat led by Ba'athists have Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki very worried about the prospects of a rebellion.

Such an "Iraqi Spring" would enjoy the full financial and political backing of Saudi Arabia's new...

The death of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul-Aziz could not have come at a better time for Saudi Arabia. The world is simply too busy with the graphic murder of Muammar al-Gaddafi in Libya to notice the 86-year-old passing away.

Oil prices were unaffected by his death, and...

During the years of French Mandate Syria, Abdulfattah Jandali was born to a large landowning family in the midland town of Homs in 1931. Like most affluent and ambitious Syrians of his generation, he studied at the American University of Beirut before moving to the United States to...

Ask anybody in the Syrian opposition or intelligentsia about political change in Syria, and they would say that Article 8 of the constitution needs to be removed immediately in order for people to start taking the government's reform promises seriously.

That controversial article, penned in 1973, designates the Baath...