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Faysal Itani

Faysal Itani

Faysal Itani is a senior director at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, and an adjunct professor of Middle East politics at Georgetown University and George Washington University. He grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, and lives in Washington, D.C. A part of the magazine’s launch team, he formerly served as a deputy editor.

Latest from Faysal Itani

Why Hezbollah Is Holding Back on Entering the Israel-Palestine War

Why Hezbollah Is Holding Back on Entering the Israel-Palestine War

Nasrallah made a crucial point of saying decisions about escalation are tied to events in Gaza, raising the possibility that a war in Lebanon is possible after all, under certain circumstances. An approaching elimination of Hamas — a true Israeli victory, as Nasrallah or Iran might see it — could reveal what those are.

Faysal Itani
The Hariri Assassination and the Revolution That Never Was

The Hariri Assassination and the Revolution That Never Was

Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution was not a revolution. In the end, the ingredients just weren’t there. But it did change Lebanon forever — and taught those of us who took part a few important lessons about the promise, and the tragedy, of politics.

Faysal Itani
Even in a Single Family, a Beirut Christmas Can Be Complicated

Even in a Single Family, a Beirut Christmas Can Be Complicated

While some foreigners find it interesting when I mention that I’m from a Sunni Muslim and Orthodox Christian family, the Lebanese almost always react with pity. Most believe that I must be “confused” or that my extended families are mutually hostile — or at least more mutually hostile than they would have otherwise been as Lebanese families. It doesn’t help that I am an “Itani” — bearing the name of a family synonymous with Sunni Islam in Beirut.

Faysal Itani