Berri’s calculated defection and the future of Shia politics in Lebanon

On 2nd March, when the Lebanese government declared a total ban on Hezbollah’s military and security activities, most of the commentary focused on Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. Almost no one focused on the man who made it possible. Nabih Berri, speaker of parliament and leader of Amal, the other pillar of the so-called Shia duo, ordered his ministers not to object. For a figure who had spent three decades shielding Hezbollah from institutional consequences, that silence was the loudest political act in Lebanon this year. The standard reading treats Berri’s move as a reaction. Hezbollah broke its promise. It had given Berri personal assurances that it would not enter the war in support of Iran, and then it launched strikes […]