... Intelligence Directorate, forcibly recruit people into the Fifth Corps in Sunni areas which have only recently achieved reconciliation with the regime. According to some reports, one of the Fifth Corps’ units will be formed of volunteers trained in Hezbollah camps on the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Recruits are a significant but not the main part of the Fifth Corps. They are its future; so, their military training and their study of the specific experience of this and other modern wars in the Middle ...
... other “heavy” divisions. The tank and mechanized infantry battalion tactical groups of these formations were often used in conjunction with units of the 14th and 15th Special Forces Divisions, thus
providing armoured support to them
. Lebanese Hezbollah detachments were subsequently used as an infantry component of the 4th Mechanized Infantry Division on a regular basis. One such example was during the fighting in Aleppo.
Nevertheless, all the combat-ready units of the SAA were clearly insufficient,...
One of the conflicts in the Middle East that remains unresolved is the standoff between Lebanon and Israel. The active involvement of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement in the hostilities in Syria has not only led to the party transforming its domestic and foreign policies, but it has also caused Israel to modify its strategy with regard to threats from the north. The conflict is characterized by hostile ...
... more poignant by the fact that two out of four of the main presidential contenders are S. Hariri's fellow party members from "March 14", while Franjieh is a member of the opposing "March 8" block that, apart from Marada, consists of Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement (as well as Dashnaktsutyun, the Syrian National Social Party, and others.)
The key event in the process of finding the middle ground on the candidacy of the future president was a productive dialogue between the ...
Main Groups and Leaders Brief Overview
The crisis developments in Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Syria are destabilizing countries in the Middle East. The growing turbulence and unpredictability threaten the very model of the nation state, which is struggling to react to the challenges posed by non-state actors in international relations – primarily by extremist groups. The inability of the state to counter the terrorist threat leads to an increase in the activities of radical elements, whose actions take...
... after the Arab Spring, the area around Israel is volatile, which precludes any sort of political activity. The Iranian issue remains of paramount importance for Israel, thousands or maybe even dozens of thousands of the latest missiles targeted by the Hezbollah against northern Israel from Lebanon, as well as the threat of shelling from the Gaza Strip. The Israeli security establishment is also worried by developments in Jordan, Egypt and especially Syria.
Major changes in international relations are ...
... affiliated with the so-called Islamic caliphate on Lebanese territory seemed very probable (
Al-Monitor
, February 17, 2015
). The success of the Lebanese army in confronting terrorists in the border town of Arsal as well as the concerted action of Hezbollah fighters instilled hope in the possibility of holding strategic positions and roads and of preventing the enemy from advancing inland. In addition, at the end of 2013, shortly after the assassination in Beirut of a prominent Lebanese politician ...
... constitution, two-thirds of the parliament members, i.e. 86 MPs out of 128 must vote for a candidate to be elected in the first round. In subsequent rounds, a simple majority of votes is enough to secure the presidential victory.
Parliamentarians who are pro-Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite political paramilitary group, are boycotting the sessions, creating the lack of the needed parliamentary quorum for a president to be elected.
After more than 18 calls upon the parliament to meet in presidential election ...
