Lebanon and the World at a Critical Crossroads: Project Watan’s Reading for the New Year

Project Watan’s Executive Board held its first weekly meeting of 2026, chaired by MP Neemat Frem and attended by all members. Following deliberations and discussions, the Board issued the following statement:

• In a broad and comprehensive assessment of the new year, the Executive Board considered that the world and the region stand at an extremely delicate and dangerous crossroads, amid the rapid pace of international surprises and the accelerating succession of developments. This comes in the aftermath of events in Venezuela and the possibility that their repercussions may extend to neighboring countries, alongside the Greenland file and the scenarios it raises for the Arctic region. This is in addition to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the escalating violence there, coupled with the striking divergence between European and American approaches to the conflict.

All these indicators point to a year laden with major transformations, as though storms had been brewing for many years, only for 2026 to unleash them in destructive lows.

• The Executive Board also addressed the fast-moving developments in the Syrian, Yemeni, Iranian, Sudanese, and Somali arenas, noting that the repercussions of some of these developments carry elements of danger that could reverberate across the maps of the region’s countries as a whole. Such dynamics may signal a process of widespread fragmentation, reviving the concept of “creative chaos” that emerged at the beginning of this century – one that begins with large-scale, bloody disorder and ends with the birth of new entities.

• The Executive Board welcomed the Lebanese Army’s announcement that it has achieved the objectives of the first phase of its plan to restrict weapons, extending its authority south of the Litani River, with the exception of areas under Israeli control. It highly commended the position of the President of the Republic, who stressed that the army’s deployment aims to entrench the exclusivity of arms in the hands of the state and to return the decision of war and peace to the constitutional institutions.

The Board also praised the steadfast decisions of the Council of Ministers to extend state authority over the entirety of Lebanese territory, notably through the announcement that the Army Command is working on preparing a plan to withdraw weapons north of the Litani, to be presented to the Council of Ministers next February. It is hoped that these combined positions will protect Lebanon from the danger of a new and devastating war, safeguard its infrastructure and national institutions, and strengthen its negotiating position – in defense of Lebanon and its people.