Lama Mourad

I'm honoured to be serving on the committee for the Lee Ann Fujii Article Award for Innovation in the Interpretive Study of Political Violence as part of the @apsa.bsky.social Interpretive Methodologies and Methods group. Send us your articles! The deadline is March 30. Full details here:

What a month it has been for the region! New piece out in @foreignpolicy.com with Reva Dhingra on the implications of the fall of the Assad regime for Syrian refugees around the world.

I spoke to @mehlerpaperny.bsky.social @reuters.com last week about how much of the focus on the US-Canada border right now is mostly about *showing* that we (i.e. Canada) take the border issue seriously (& much less so about whether or not the policies themselves are effective). @npsia.bsky.social

thanks for doing this @jannisgrimm.bsky.social ✋

Ceasefire, the view from #Lebanon soon after it came into effect at 4am

Civilians in Beirut are heading to seek shelter at the American University of Beirut Hospital amid Israeli evacuation orders in central Beirut. 🇱🇧

(Photo sent by local residents to L'Orient Today)

While all are focused on the "imminent" ceasefire, Israel is threatening and waging its largest assault on central Beirut yet. This is absolute horror.

Thoroughly disgusting that bombs are dropping as a public relations manoeuvre

The non-stop pounding of Beirut in recent hours is most likely an attempt by Netanyahu to sell the ceasefire agreement that falls far short of what he promised Israelis.

Provides headshots of the 4 experts as well as a brief bio

My Memorial Uni students and I are so excited to host @stephrschwartz.bsky.social @lmourad.bsky.social, Yvonne Su and Megan Bradley for a virtual conversation on Forced Migration & International security on November 25, 2pm EST.

#wiis-canada members also invited to join! Contact me to register.

In Lebanon, a family's memories are detonated along with their village Mhaibib, a village perched on a hill just north of the Lebanon-Israel border, was leveled by a series of explosions on Oct. 16.

As the Biden administration continues to call the war in Lebanon a “limited incursion," entire villages in the South are being blown up, and just today the city of Baalbek and surrounding areas are being threatened with shelling and forced to evacuate - forcing tens of thousands to flee again.

Our Fall 2024 Newsletter is out! This is the last issue with our wonderful editorial team @nerminallam.bsky.social@seanyom.bsky.social & Gamze Çavdar, before we welcome a new dynamic trio of editors: @dbgreenwald.bsky.social@sebnemgumuscu.bsky.social & Samer Shehata #menasky

Israel Is Weaponizing Forced Displacement—Again In Lebanon as in Gaza, Israel cannot bomb its way into security.

"The large-scale destruction of villages, such as the border town of Yaroun, as well as of critical infrastructure such as hospitals, raises fears that those displaced may not have viable paths to return home when the fighting stops"

Written with the incomparable Lama Mourad. Gift link. menasky

These last weeks, adding to this horrible year, have been beyond imaginable for Lebanon and its people. I feel like I've been screaming into the void but at least, with this, I hope that @separkinson.bsky.social and I's screams get out a bit louder.

A Year of War Without End In guise of an editorial, senior editor Lina Mounzer struggles to find the words to describe the horror of the past year.

There are times when words really fail you & @warghetti.bsky.social is still able to write with such force. I have not been posting much, but this is one of the most powerful pieces of writing I have read in a while. Even its rhythm so powerfully expresses how I'm feeling.

After all the death and destruction today, Israel is still conducting airstrikes on Lebanon at this moment.

I'm sharing this because I know that many people that many who follow me on here may not fully know all this, and while I research Lebanon and its politics, I'm also Lebanese and just plainly want to communicate how absolutely devastating of a day (compounding a horrible week & year) this has been.

Unlike in 2006, fleeing to Syria by land is a more challenging (& less evidently safe) option, & the already heavily weakened infrastructure & economic crisis that Lebanon’s population has faced over the last years will only make both accessing safety & providing relief that much more constrained.

But there are also unfortunately reports of landlords evicting Syrians to provide shelter to Lebanese, & of some municipalities refusing to allow for displaced people to seek shelter in their towns and villages (and this was already the case with the over 160k displaced already since Oct 7).

There are a number of different actors on the ground, including state actors (local officials here are so important!) but also civil society groups, ad hoc mutual aid groups, political parties, and others that are coming together to provide people with basic needs, shelter, food, water.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of displaced Lebanese from the South, the Beqaa, and other regions, there are hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Palestinians who are displaced, yet again. The complexity of the displacement situation cannot be overstated.

It's also a greater death toll than the August 4 blast, an explosion that destroyed large parts of downtown Beirut only 4 years ago -- an event that rightfully shook the entire country.

This is the single deadliest day in Lebanon since the end of the civil war. Just the reported numbers so far (as always in a situation of this scale, we know these are underreported) places today's death toll at nearly 1/3 of total deaths in the entire 2006 war (which was 33 days).

I've been away from here for a little bit but just in case this reminder hasn't reached folks! Still time to apply - deadline today for APSA Migration & Citizenship awards.

The latest BattleRhythm episode with Anessa Kimball on Kissinger, toxic CSIS workplace, the new P-8 decision plus interview with Lama Mourad about tomorrow's Evacuation panel at the Year Ahead conference (still a few tickets left) soundcloud.com/cdsnpodcasts... #cdndef @cdsn.bsky.social #cdndef

There is a lot going on right now, and some small signs of hope too. @lmourad.bsky.social & I share our thoughts on the dangers of advocating for displacement as a humanitarian solution.

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

I'll be joining colleagues this year for @cdsn.bsky.social The Year Ahead conference, and moderating a sadly ever-more-relevant conversation around evacuations. More info & ticket details below.

The @cdsn.bsky.social ends most years with a big event. This year: two of them!
--The book launch of the second volume on Canadian Defence Policy featuring CDS Wayne Eyre as our keynote speaker

--The Year Ahead conference. New location, heaps of insights, tickets are starting to sell.

Thank you for reading & sharing Lisel!

Opinion: In Gaza, civilian evacuation looks like forced displacement. That cannot be the way forward There is a danger in advocating for Palestinians’ right to flee, when there is evidence of an intent to systematically expel and no guarantee of the right to return

There are so many things to be worried about amid the ongoing horror we're seeing in Gaza, @stephrschwartz.bsky.social & I take up why we think it's so dangerous to advocate for the right to flee when politicians are openly discussing an intent to expel. In @globeandmail.bsky.social today