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      Michael Young

      Michael Young

      Columnist
      Location
      Michael Young is a Lebanon affairs columnist for The National. He is the senior editor at the Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut, where he also edits Diwan, the blog of the Carnegie Middle East Programme. A former journalist, he is the author of 'The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle' (Simon and Schuster, 2010), selected by The Wall Street Journal as one of its 10 notable books for 2010.
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      Articles

      Hezbollah supporters wave flags and hold a portrait of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Beirut last week. AFP
      CommentHow a Saudi-led regional coalition can help to solve Lebanon's Hezbollah problem

      Beirut is better off relying on a regional approach than on a US-Israeli scheme designed to disarm the group forcibly

      CommentJune 17, 2026
      US President Donald Trump with Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington in April. AFP
      CommentLebanon needs to get over its America Derangement Syndrome

      While the US retains considerable heft in the Middle East, it’s time for states in the region to settle their own problems

      CommentJune 03, 2026
      A banner with a picture of late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei placed amid the rubble of a destroyed building in Beirut's southern suburbs earlier this month. AFP
      CommentLebanon needs to table a plan for Hezbollah – before the US and Israel do

      Disarming the Iran's proxy by force is a terrible option, but time is running out for Beirut to offer a better solution

      CommentMay 19, 2026
      Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, centre, has been more open than Speaker Nabih Berri, right, to talks with Israel AFP
      CommentBefore talking to Israel, Lebanon's leaders need to get on the same page

      The President and Speaker cannot afford to have differences on what it is they want from the upcoming negotiations

      CommentMay 05, 2026
      American, Lebanese and Israeli officials meet for direct talks at the US State Department in Washington last week. AFP
      CommentDespite US pressure, the Lebanon-Israel talks process should not be rushed

      It's the only way for Beirut to emerge from the Iran-Israel power struggle unharmed

      CommentApril 22, 2026
      Some fear that forced displacement of civilians by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon could renew sectarian tensions in the country. Getty Images
      CommentA new Lebanese civil war is unlikely, despite how things may look

      Hezbollah lacks the interest, allies lack the means and Iran has other priorities for the party

      CommentApril 08, 2026
      Soldiers inspect a building in southern Lebanon hit by Israel in its war with Hezbollah. AFP
      CommentLebanon's army needs to make every move against Hezbollah count

      Creating unrealistic expectations for the military may cause it to rupture, which would be catastrophic for the Lebanese state, too

      CommentMarch 24, 2026
      Inside a shelter at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium in Beirut, Lebanon. Getty Images
      CommentWhat is Israel's mission in the south of Lebanon – and will it succeed?

      The supposed plan to uproot Hezbollah from parts of the country is likely to backfire for a number of reasons

      CommentMarch 11, 2026
      People rush to inspect the site of an Israeli air strike that targeted the offices of a Hezbollah-linked financial institution in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre. AFP
      CommentFew in Lebanon will regret Hezbollah's eventual demise

      Beirut's decision to declare the group's military activities illegal is a reflection of the country's broad-based antipathy towards it

      CommentMarch 03, 2026
      Civil defence members battle fire at the site an Israeli air strike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana earlier this month. AFP
      CommentHezbollah's refusal to disarm would be a strategic blunder

      The group’s intransigence is making a military option more likely

      CommentFebruary 25, 2026
      A Lebanese soldier stands guard in the southern village of Kfar Kila, destroyed by the Israeli military, on Sunday. AFP
      CommentBy forcing normalisation on Beirut, Israel could turn Lebanon into another Ukraine

      Lebanon should serve as a bridge, not a battleground, for foreign powers

      CommentFebruary 11, 2026
      Residents of Raqqa hold celebrations after the Syrian government took control of the city earlier this month. EPA
      CommentWhy Arab states are so good at withstanding pressure to break up

      Foreign and sectarian interests have often sought to dismantle these countries, but it rarely seems to work

      CommentJanuary 28, 2026
      US officials Tom Barrack and Morgan Ortagus have had little success mediating between Lebanon and Israel. Getty
      CommentIn Lebanon, the US has been reduced to playing good cop to Israel's bad cop

      As long as it continues to be a biased negotiator, it is not going to achieve its aim of disarming Hezbollah

      CommentJanuary 14, 2026
      Lebanon's government has vowed to disarm militia groups, including Hezbollah. AFP
      CommentThis year so much changed in Lebanon - and yet so much more stayed the same

      In a country where corruption meets complexity, a new government alone doesn't guarantee progress

      CommentDecember 30, 2025
      The US envoy Morgan Ortagus was responsible for pushing Lebanon to include civilian representatives in the committee negotiating with Israel. AFP
      CommentBeirut is in no state to normalise Lebanon-Israel relations

      Domestic and geopolitical conditions do not favour such an endgame

      CommentDecember 16, 2025
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