Zainab Younes is a PhD candidate at the Division of Social Sciences at LSBU, specialising in International Relations, with a regional focus on the Middle East. Her research explores foreign intervention and soft power in Lebanon. Before begining her PhD, she was a Beriut,-based researcher and commentator on political affairs relevant to the region. She has a Politics and History degree from SOAS, and her wider research interests include the politics and history of the Levant, great power politics, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.