Syria Street, separating the neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, in Tripoli, in 2024. (Credit: João Sousa / L’Orient-Le Jour)
The tide has turned. Two weeks ago, MP Haidar Nasser, who's Alawite, scolded his community's spiritual leader, Ali Kaddour, after the latter delivered a glowing eulogy to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at his funeral. In a Facebook message, Nasser asked the presidency of the Alawite Islamic Council “to publish a statement of explanation and to apologize to the members of the community,” calling the remarks an “incident.” For the MP, one of two parliamentary representatives from the community, Alawites “have no need to get involved in political alignments.”This stance appears to be shared by most Lebanese Alawites today — about 150,000, according to the highest estimates — who are concentrated in Tripoli and the Akkar region. This marks a significant shift for a community historically associated with Syria’s Assad regime and...
The tide has turned. Two weeks ago, MP Haidar Nasser, who's Alawite, scolded his community's spiritual leader, Ali Kaddour, after the latter delivered a glowing eulogy to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at his funeral. In a Facebook message, Nasser asked the presidency of the Alawite Islamic Council “to publish a statement of explanation and to apologize to the members of the community,” calling the remarks an “incident.” For the MP, one of two parliamentary representatives from the community, Alawites “have no need to get involved in political alignments.”This stance appears to be shared by most Lebanese Alawites today — about 150,000, according to the highest estimates — who are concentrated in Tripoli and the Akkar region. This marks a significant shift for a community historically associated with...
