MENA Minorities

What are the implications of Russia's intervention for Hizballah? Here you will find some interesting answers: Hezbollah’s New Ally In Syria  by Nour Samaha, Newsweek Middle East Russia’s involvement has also seen an increase of Hezbollah fighters on the ground. Sources close to the party confirm that approximately 2,000 fighters have been added to the battlefield, specifically in the areas around Aleppo and Idlib, in the immediate aftermath of Russian airstrikes, adding more foot soldiers to the thousands already present there.   “For example, before Russia’s [involvement] there were around 200 fighters in Aleppo and Idlib, predominantly advisors,” said one source. “Now there are between 1,500 and 2,000.”(…)

I have a problem every time read that Beirut's southern suburbs are something like "Hizballah territory". Of course this is true to some extend in a way that the southern suburbs is their power base and there Hizballah is in a league of its own. However, neither are all inhabitants (of whom many are not Shia) followers of the "Party of God" nor are they the only powerful party here. The so far 43 victims of the bombing last Friday in Burj al-Barajna deserve a more nuanced approach. Here you can clearly see the funeral of a supporter of the  Amal-party. The corpse is covered by a green (the color of Amal) flag and the funeral procession is guarded by uniformed Amal-militiamen.

F ormer Druze Knesset member Sa ʿ id Naffaʿ beg an his one year long prison term on Sunday ( see here for a video of the rally in front of the prison) . He was senteced for illigally visiting Syria in 2007 along with 282 Druze clerics and meeting the deputy head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) - a terrorist group according (not only) to Israeli law. in Syria 2007 The details of the affair, which has led to the conviction of Naffaʿ and to none of the 282 c lerics , are well known but this is also an opportunity to shine some light on his career and the political tendencies inside the Israeli-Druze community he repre sen t s . Naffaʿ is the most profiled politician the non-Zionist Druze faction has produced so far.  Sa ʿ id Naffaʿ Saʿid Naffaʿ was born in the all Druze Upper Galileein village of Bait Jann in 1953. Mandatory conscription was introduced for all male Druze except the religious ʿuqqal in 1956 and...

Prominent proponents of the Eastern Orthodox church in Lebanon come out in strong opposition against the declaration of the military intervention of Russia as a 'holy war' by the Russian Orthodox church. Good, but remember the seat of the patriarch of Antioch is Damascus, not Beirut. Syria's 'holy war' by Sami Nader, Al Monitor