Lebanon is facing an economic and environmental disaster

Lebanon’s fragile communitarian democracy is hobbling on. After more than 250 days of political deadlock that threatened to bring down the economy, Prime Minister Saad Hariri now presides over another unity government, Lebanon’s sixth since the devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. When analysts and policymakers assess Lebanon’s long list of problems, political sectarianism and the general split between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in the country usually come first. The idea that sectarian tensions and proxy conflicts between regional hegemons Iran and Saudi Arabia are keeping Lebanon trapped is the general, tired storyline about the country. The Syrian war, so the logic goes, has ostensibly made good governance in Lebanon nearly impossible.