Hezbollah supporters wave the group's flags as well as those of Iran and Iraq during a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the assassination by Israel of their historic leader Hassan Nasrallah, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on Sept. 27, 2025. (Credit: AFP file photo)
Is Iraq in the same boat as Lebanon? Last month, under U.S. pressure, Iraq’s new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said he aimed to enforce a state monopoly on weapons, bringing pro-Iranian militias under government authority.His appointment in April, to a position traditionally reserved for a Shiite Arab (while the speaker of parliament is a Sunni Arab and the presidency goes to a Kurd), came as the result of an implicit compromise between the United States and Iran. This followed months of institutional deadlock, marked by inter-sectarian negotiations and a prolonged presidential vacancy.This picture is reminiscent of Lebanon. And it’s not just by chance or geography. The 2005 Iraqi Constitution, adopted two years after Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship fell, was directly inspired by the Lebanese model. Certainly, unlike Lebanon, there is a...
Is Iraq in the same boat as Lebanon? Last month, under U.S. pressure, Iraq’s new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said he aimed to enforce a state monopoly on weapons, bringing pro-Iranian militias under government authority.His appointment in April, to a position traditionally reserved for a Shiite Arab (while the speaker of parliament is a Sunni Arab and the presidency goes to a Kurd), came as the result of an implicit compromise between the United States and Iran. This followed months of institutional deadlock, marked by inter-sectarian negotiations and a prolonged presidential vacancy.This picture is reminiscent of Lebanon. And it’s not just by chance or geography. The 2005 Iraqi Constitution, adopted two years after Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship fell, was directly inspired by the Lebanese model. Certainly, unlike Lebanon, there is...
