Tony Boulos

AI generated photo of Hezbollah's flag By: Tony Boulos For years, Hezbollah relied on a governing equation built on coercion: accept its weapons and its role above the authority of the Lebanese state—or face internal unrest and the threat of civil conflict. Over time, this formula evolved from a pressure tactic into a structural instrument of control, activated whenever the state moved toward sovereign decisions that challenged the group’s dominance inside Lebanon. This dynamic became...

Tony Boulos is a Lebanese journalist and political analyst specializing in Middle East security and geopolitics. A frequent commentator on Arab and international TV, he provides expert insights into the region’s complex landscape. Boulos is a regular ME24 contributor, delivering strategic analysis on the most pressing issues in the Middle East.

South Lebanon — Along Lebanon’s southern frontier, where cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel have reshaped daily life for months, residents of several Christian-majority villages are making a deliberate and coordinated choice: they are staying. In towns such as Rmeish, Debel, Qlayaa, Ain Ebel, and Marjayoun, local clergy, municipal officials, and families say they do not consider themselves parties to the conflict unfolding around them. Instead, they describe their presence...