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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

      Members of Hizbollah hold their flags in the southern Lebanese town of Kfour. Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP
      Israel's simplistic Hizbollah-Lebanese army narrative serves only to set a collision course

      Michael Young unpacks comments made by Israel's defence minister, which appear to mark the two bodies as one

      OpinionOctober 18, 2017
      Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri. Dalati Nohra / EPA
      Moderate Hariri faces economic problems and political obstacles

      Lebanon's prime minister faces is under siege and facing a difficult dilemma, writes Michael Young

      OpinionOctober 04, 2017
      United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres with Iranian president Hassan Rouhani. Will the US be able to keep pragmatism alive in the case of Tehran? Don Emmert / AFP
      Broader regional plan needed to contain Iran

      The Trump administration must carefully weave together a network of assets that can be called upon in any confrontation with Tehran or used to limit its geopolitical expansion

      OpinionSeptember 20, 2017
      Hizbollah fighters in western Qalamoun, Syria. Omar Sanadiki / Reuters
      ISIL is proving a powerful tool in advancing diverging agendas in Syria

      If ever the cobweb of conflicting interest between the US, Hizbollah and other militias has grown, it is now

      OpinionSeptember 06, 2017
      A reader writes about the desperate situation at work in parts of Syria. Omar Sanadiki / Reuters
      The question of reconstruction could determine Assad’s political destiny

      The Syrian president's future may be at greater risk once the conflict ends, writes Michael Young

      OpinionAugust 23, 2017
      A Hizbollah fighter watches as militants depart in buses. Ali Hashisho / Reuters
      The US must think twice about halting military support for the Lebanese army

      If Washington aims to contain Iran, it should ensure its decisions won't end up reinforcing the terrorist group and abandoning those who reject its pro-Iran agenda

      OpinionAugust 09, 2017
      Donald Trump representing the opposite of Barack Obama is no longer good enough for Arab states.
      Obama was bad for the region, but Trump's ambiguity is worrisome

      Despite officially disengaging from Syria, the domestically troubled administration is sending out mixed messages in a conflict-ridden region in desperate need of clear direction

      CommentJuly 26, 2017
      Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader. The organisation knows that the best way to remain strong is to discredit Lebanon’s system of sectarian compromise. Wael Hamzeh / EPA
      Lebanon is now in the crosshairs of some complex regional rivalries

      The ceasefire deal in south-west Syria raises complications for the country

      OpinionJuly 12, 2017
      Russian president Vladimir Putin with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Al Assad, during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, in 2015. Alexei Druzhinin / RIA Novosti / Reuters
      The US should quickly dislodge Iran from Syria

      Syria means much more to Iran than it does to Russia or the United States, writes Michael Young

      OpinionJune 14, 2017
      The political centre of gravity in Syria’s conflict is shifting to the east of the country, as the Assad regime expands its control in the west. EPA / Sana Handout
      Assad looks east as the centre of gravity shifts

      Michael Young on why the shift in the political centre of gravity in Syria’s conflict to the east is significant for the future of the country

      OpinionMay 31, 2017
      Lebanon's president Michel Aoun at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, Lebanon. Dalati Nohra / Reuters
      Michel Aoun moves to save his presidency

      Michael Young says that Lebanese President Michel Aoun's revival of the 1960 law was nothing less than an effort to save his own presidency

      OpinionMay 24, 2017
      Russian president Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with newly-elected president of Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region Anatoly Bibilov at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi, Russia. Alexander Zemlianichenko / Reuters
      Russia’s key role in Syria is only likely to magnify

      The Syrian situation is becoming ever more complicated for the Trump administration, writes Michael Young

      OpinionMay 03, 2017
      Lebanese MP Samir Franjieh during a meeting of the opposition at a hotel in Beirut. Joseph Barrak / AFP
      Franjieh's death marks the end of a political idea

      With the death of Samir Franjieh, Lebanon's Maronite community has lost a voice of reason at a time of sectarian impetuousity, writes

      OpinionApril 19, 2017
      The leader of the aran revolys in Palestine, Fawzi Al Qawuqji, in 1936. AP Photo
      Fawzi al-Qawuqji and the end of a pan-Arab dream

      Michael Young highlights the legacy of Fawzi al-Qawukji, an "Arab dreamer"

      OpinionApril 05, 2017
      Syrian president Bashar Al Assad giving an interview to a Belgian media outlet. SANA / AFP
      Powerless Assad is controlled by Russia and Iran

      Michael Young says we should focus on ways to reduce Iran's influence in Syria

      OpinionMarch 22, 2017
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