On the left, the new Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem (screenshot). On the right, the head of state, Joseph Aoun. (Photo courtesy of the Presidency of the Republic)
"There will be a before and after Feb. 23." Naim Qassem could not have put it better. But while this date has indeed marked a turning point in Lebanon’s political landscape, it is not for the reasons the new Hezbollah leader had in mind.As all eyes were fixed on the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium — overflown, if not nearly grazed, by Israeli fighter jets that came to witness the end of an era — it was in Baabda that the real shockwave was felt: “Lebanon is exhausted by the wars of others on its soil,” President Joseph Aoun told his Iranian guests.As the Iranian delegation was preparing to attend Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral, Aoun drove the final nail into the coffin of the policy of regional axes.The head of state made this sovereignist stance clear in front of Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf — the same...
"There will be a before and after Feb. 23." Naim Qassem could not have put it better. But while this date has indeed marked a turning point in Lebanon’s political landscape, it is not for the reasons the new Hezbollah leader had in mind.As all eyes were fixed on the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium — overflown, if not nearly grazed, by Israeli fighter jets that came to witness the end of an era — it was in Baabda that the real shockwave was felt: “Lebanon is exhausted by the wars of others on its soil,” President Joseph Aoun told his Iranian guests.As the Iranian delegation was preparing to attend Hassan Nasrallah’s funeral, Aoun drove the final nail into the coffin of the policy of regional axes.The head of state made this sovereignist stance clear in front of Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf...
