MENA Minorities

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.

Phillip Smyth, who writes the blog Hizballah Cavalcade about Shiite militias in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere, has an extensive policy paper (more a monograph) on Shiite militias in Syria out via the Washington Institute. I haven't read it yet, but after browsing through the notes my expectations were raised. The Shiite Jihad in Syria and Its Regional Effects by Phillip Smyth, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy Btw there is also an interesting posting from last month on Hizballah Cavalcade about a new Shabak militia in Iraq .

In case you didn't know, Lebanese Hizballah has branched out in Syria. Now the Syrian branch has received a kinda official status by the regime-another sign for the rising influence of Iran on the regime. Ancient diplomat Ignace Levierr provides an analyses for Le Monde , where he operates the blog Un oeil sur la Syrie (which you should read on a regular basis if your French is better than mine). Le Hizbollah syrien prend un caractère officiel by Ignace Leverrier, Le Mond Blog / Un oeil sur la Syrie

An in deph report about the current dynamics in Lebanon's Bekaa-valley (covering the Situation in both Shia and Christian villages) can be found at the NYT: Sectarian Wedge Pushes From Syria Into Lebanon by Anne Bernard, The New York Times  

The Institute for Stydy of War has published an extremely detailed and well researchrd r eport on the engagement of Hizballah in Syria : Hezballah in Syria by Marisa Sullivan, Institute for Stydy of War

Fascinating report by Anne Bernard, the Beirut bureau chief of the New York Times, from Saiyida Zainab near Damascus, which houses the Shia shrine of the prophet Muhammad's granddaughter (or one of them to be exact). Protecting the shrine serves as a pretense for the involvement of Hizballah and Shia fighters from Iraq in Syria. Muslim Shrine Stands as a Crossroads in Syria’s Unrest   by Anne Bernard, The New York Times

Lebanese news portal Now. published an extensive interview with Philip Symyth, a leading expert on the still underreported phenomenon of Shiite militias in Syria, who operates the blog  Hizballah Cavalcade .