Contested Frontiers in the Syria-Lebanon-Israel Region studies one of the flash points of the Middle East since the 1960s—a tiny region of roughly 100 square kilometers where Syria, Lebanon, and Israel come together but where the borders have never been clearly marked. This was the scene of Palestinian guerrilla warfare in the 1960s and '70s and of Hezbollah confrontations with Israel from 2000 to the 2006 war. At stake are rural villagers who live in one country but identify themselves as belonging to another, the source of the Jordan River, part of scenic and historically significant Mount Hermon, the conflict-prone Shebaa Farms, and a defunct oil pipeline. Asher Kaufman uses French, British, American, and Israeli archives; Lebanese and Syrian primary sources and newspapers; interviews with borderland residents and with UN and U.S. officials; and a historic collection of maps. He analyzes the geopolitical causes of conflict and prospects for resolution, assesses implications of the impasse over economic zones in the eastern Mediterranean where Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Turkey all have claims, and reflects on the meaning of borders and frontiers today.

This book offers a fresh perspective on the impact of the US intervention in Lebanon in 1982 and the decision-making drivers that led the Reagan Administration into the Lebanese Civil War. Based on newly released archival materials from high level Washington officials such as President Reagan, Secretary of State Shultz and Secretary of Defense Weinberger, it argues that the failure of the Reagan Administration to accurately understand the complex political landscape of the Lebanese Civil War resulted in the US-led Multinational Force becoming militarily intertwined in the conflict. This book challenges the notion that Reagan deployed US Marines under the ideals of international peacekeeping, asserting that the US Administration hoped that the Multinational Force would create the political capital that Reagan needed to strengthen the US’ position both in the Middle East and globally. Ultimately, the peacemakers were forced to withdraw as they evolved into antagonists. A case study in the foreign policy doctrines of key Washington decision-makers throughout the 1980s, this project is perfect for any International Relations scholar or interested reader seeking to understand the links between the mistakes of the Reagan Administration and contemporary US interventions in the Middle East.

Regional struggles, wars and local confrontations have marked the south of Lebanon since the end of the 1960s. They have transformed this marginalized and rural region into a battlefield and redefined the relationships between international, regional and local actors. The most recent of these actors - the Palestinian refugees and their armed resistance, the Islamic Shi'i movement Hizbullah, and the UN local mission (UNIFIL) - have marked and shaped the place, and in turn operating in this borderland has affected their identities. Based on Daniel Meier's extensive fieldwork in the region, this book offers interviews with militants, his own observations of this conflict-ridden and dangerous region as well as incisive political analysis concerning the armed militias operating in the area. It is through this in-depth examination of the southern borderlands of Lebanon that Meier sheds new light on some of the major Middle Eastern confrontations of the last half a century.

A detailed comparison of Lebanon and Israel/Palestine, two expanded states which have experienced conflict and stability domestically and in their mutual relations.

"Flawless . . . [Makdisi] reminds us of the critical declarations of secularism which existed in the history of the Middle East."—Robert Fisk, The Independent Today's headlines paint the Middle East as a collection of war-torn countries and extremist groups consumed by sectarian rage. Ussama Makdisi's Age of Coexistence reveals a hidden and hopeful story that counters this clichéd portrayal. It shows how a region rich with ethnic and religious diversity created a modern culture of coexistence amid Ottoman reformation, European colonialism, and the emergence of nationalism. Moving from the nineteenth century to the present, this groundbreaking book explores, without denial or equivocation, the politics of pluralism during the Ottoman Empire and in the post-Ottoman Arab world. Rather than judging the Arab world as a place of age-old sectarian animosities, Age of Coexistence describes the forging of a complex system of coexistence, what Makdisi calls the "ecumenical frame." He argues that new forms of antisectarian politics, and some of the most important examples of Muslim-Christian political collaboration, crystallized to make and define the modern Arab world. Despite massive challenges and setbacks, and despite the persistence of colonialism and authoritarianism, this framework for coexistence has endured for nearly a century. It is a reminder that religious diversity does not automatically lead to sectarianism. Instead, as Makdisi demonstrates, people of different faiths, but not necessarily of different political outlooks, have consistently tried to build modern societies that transcend religious and sectarian differences.

While the Lebanese Hezbollah’s raison d’être ever since its inception in the early ’80s has been the mantra of unwavering resistance against the Israeli occupation of Lebanese soil, in April 2013 the Shi’ite militia’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, publicly stated that his fighters were openly fighting alongside the Shi’ite-sect Alawite regime of Bashar al-Assad on Syrian ground. Since then, Hezbollah has steadily deepened its commitment there both in size and in scope. It has scored tactical victories and territorial gains on the Syrian battlefield in bolstering the foothold of al-Assad, just as it has suffered considerable losses among some of its most experienced military ranks. Therefore, Hezbollah’s deepening interference on Syrian turf testifies to a paradigm shift in its strategic realignment in the context of the Levant’s unprecedented volatility. Feeling the repercussions from internal political divisions in Lebanon and the increasingly intricate frontlines across the neighboring country of Syria, Hezbollah has embarked on a dangerous path that is likely to have grave consequences. As it carries the dual burden of being expected to maintain the opposition against Israel as well as shoring up regime loyalists in Syria, it risks stalemate on its southern front and overexpansion in the protracted Syrian quagmire.

Outlines the impact of the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran across the Middle East, challenging assumptions about 'proxy wars' and sectarianism.