Michael Young, an editor of the Beirut Daily Star and a well-known analyst on Lebanese-Syrian relations, says he hopes that the UN Security Council meeting due to take up the Mehlis Report on the ass…

Joshua M. Landis, a Syria expert who recently returned to the United States from Damascus, says that Syrian leaders are seeking to establish good relations with Iraq. He says the new prime minister o…

As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes prepare for their trip to South America, CFR Senior Fellow Julia Sweig says the United States must…

Scott Lasensky, who specializes in Syria and other Middle Eastern areas for the U.S. Institute of Peace, says Syria has mounted a major crackdown to try to silence the growing number of intellectuals…

Michael Young, a veteran political observer in Lebanon, disputes the polls showing wide support for Hezbollah in its conflict with Israel. Young says Lebanese Christians, Sunnis, and Druze were all u…

Joshua Landis, an expert on Syria and Lebanon, says the drawn-out Iraq conflict has fed an image of declining U.S. influence in Lebanon, which has led Hezbollah to try to weaken, if not overthrow, th…

rShannon O’Neil, a CFR expert on Latin America, says President Bush heads for Latin America on March 8 hoping for a “foreign policy success,” but because of his lame duck status, it will be hard for …

Mohamad Bazzi, former Middle East bureau chief for Newsday, says there will likely be more haggling ahead of a new deadline for Lebanon’s political parties to agree on a compromise candidate to becom…

Steven A. Cook, CFR’s Douglas Dillon fellow and an expert on the Middle East, says a sense of normalcy pervades Beirut despite the continuing political standoff.

Joshua Landis, a leading Syria expert, says Syria’s surprise attendance at last week’s Annapolis peace conference came after heavy lobbying.