Fadi Daoud retired from the LAF after serving as commander of the 1st Operational Group and leading army units to victory over the Islamic State during Operation Fajr al-Joroud. He has also served as head of security for the LAF’s Mukafaha counterterrorism unit and as a military advisor for Lebanon
Makram Rabah is an assistant professor of history at the American University of Beirut and author of the 2020 book, "Conflict on Mount Lebanon: The Druze, the Maronites and Collective Memory." Rabah is a contributor to Fikra Forum.
Efraim Defrin retired from the IDF last year after a distinguished three-decade career that included serving as head of the International Cooperation Division and leading the 162nd Division's efforts during the 2006 Lebanon war.
Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion (Res.) is The Washington Institute’s Rueven International Fellow, a senior research fellow at the INSS, and former head of the IDF Strategic Planning Division.
Brief Analysis
How will the unsettled political dynamics in Lebanon affect the ongoing implementation of the Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire? Join us for a series of expert conversations featuring Lebanese, Israeli, and other international observers. Watch live starting at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) on Thursday, February 13, 2025.
Next week marks the second deadline for the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, whose ambitious terms called for deploying the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to the south, dismantling Hezbollah’s military arsenal, and fully withdrawing the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Yet Lebanon’s new political leadership has yet to form a government, make key security appointments, or decide on a strategy for disarming Hezbollah nationwide. How will these political dynamics affect implementation of the ceasefire’s remaining requirements? Will another extension be granted, or will Israel feel compelled to renew large-scale military operations against Hezbollah’s infrastructure? And how might the group respond to either scenario?
To discuss these questions, The Washington Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum consisting of two separate, sequential video conversations: the first with Gen. Fadi Daoud (LAF, Ret.) and Prof. Makram Rabah, and the second with Brig. Gen. Efraim "Effie" Defrin (IDF, Ret.) and Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion (IDF, Res.). Both panels will be moderated by Hanin Ghaddar, the Institute’s Friedmann Senior Fellow.
Watch a live webcast of this event starting at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) on Thursday, February 13, 2025.
Fadi Daoud retired from the LAF after serving as commander of the 1st Operational Group and leading army units to victory over the Islamic State during Operation Fajr al-Joroud. He has also served as head of security for the LAF’s Mukafaha counterterrorism unit and as a military advisor for Lebanon’s permanent mission to the United Nations, among other senior posts.
Makram Rabah is an assistant professor of history at the American University of Beirut, where his research interests include the Lebanese civil war and reconciliation process. Among his numerous publications on local and regional affairs is the 2020 book Conflict on Mount Lebanon: The Druze, the Maronites, and Collective Memory (Edinburgh University Press).
Efraim Defrin retired from the IDF last year after a distinguished three-decade career that included serving as head of the International Cooperation Division and leading the 162nd Division's efforts during the 2006 Lebanon war.
Assaf Orion is The Washington Institute’s Rueven International Fellow, a senior research fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, and former head of the IDF Strategic Planning Division, where his roles included overseeing communications with the LAF.
The Policy Forum series is made possible through the generosity of the Florence and Robert Kaufman Family.
