On Thursday, February 4, in his first foreign policy address, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. was ending support for the Saudi offensive in the poorest Arab country, Yemen.
After the Arab Spring (a wave of pro-democracy protests throughout much of the Arab World) Yemen was thrown into a civil war, which has evolved into a power struggle between three main factions. The first is the UN-recognized and Saudi-backed government led by Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, successor to the ousted Ali Abdullah Saleh. …
“Hi, kifak, ça va?” (Hi (English), kifak (how are you — Arabic), ça va? (alright? — French)) is a quintessentially Lebanese greeting that echoes from the streets of Achrafieh to the souks of Tripoli every morning, afternoon, and night. An essential feature of Lebanese vernacular is its mixture of English, French, and, of course, Arabic. This is just one of many examples of Lebanon’s singularity in the Middle East, Asia, and the entire globe.
Resting on the Eastern Mediterranean between Syria and Israel, Lebanon is a Levantine country formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. The region — known as the…
