Lebanon

Ceasefire In Lebanon

Featured image We have not joined in the calls for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon. What Israel needs is victory, not a stop to the fighting; not until the fighting is done. But today Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had submitted the proposal to the cabinet for approval Tuesday evening local time. The deal was approved 10-1, with only far-right minister Ben Gvir voting against »

Cease Fire? No Way

Featured image Israel’s stunning success in taking out the entire leadership of Hezbollah has laid the foundation for a ground incursion that will eliminate the terrorists’ ability to threaten northern Israel, where somewhere around 100,000 people have had to flee their homes to avoid Hezbollah rockets. The Wall Street Journal reports: Israeli special forces have been carrying out small, targeted raids into southern Lebanon, gathering intelligence and probing ahead of an expected »

Round Two In Lebanon [Updated]

Featured image Yesterday it was pagers, today it is handheld radios: Hezbollah said that more explosions had occurred in different areas of Lebanon on Wednesday, this time affecting handheld radios. The Lebanese Red Cross said that 30 ambulance teams were responding to “multiple explosions” in different areas of Lebanon, including the country’s south and east. In an initial toll, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that one person had been killed and more than »

Eyeless in Gaza

Featured image Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he focuses on Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria, and the geopolitics of the Levant. Tablet originally published his illuminating column “Eyeless in Gaza” on October 18. FDD has cross-posted it here with Badran’s many links. The column provides an illuminating account of “how the U.S. blinded Israeli intelligence gathering efforts on Hamas and other Palestinian groups inside Lebanon.” »

Protests in Lebanon and Iraq are bad news for Iran

Featured image I’ve tried to keep our readers apprised, or at least aware, of the large scale protests in Lebanon and Iraq. Both sets of protests are bad news for Iran. In Lebanon, the protests are directed, in part, against Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy. In Iraq, the major target appears to be Iran itself. Eliora Katz, writing for Tablet, calls the protests “the revolt against Iran”: Across the Middle East, from Baghdad to »

Anti-Iran protests erupt in Iraq

Featured image I wrote here about protests in Lebanon against a government dominated by Hezbollah, and therefore by Iran. Hezbollah’s leader initially expressed support for the protesters, pretending that the target was other players in Lebanon. When protesters refuted that myth, he changed his tune and warned of civil war. Since then, Hezbollah has violently attacked protesters. Iraq is experiencing a similar dynamic. Large-scale protests have broken out again. As in Lebanon, »

Protesters to Hezbollah: “All means all”

Featured image Lebanon is the scene these days of mass protests. They began on October 17, triggered by a proposed new tax and fueled by an austerity budget that cuts public spending, pensions, and employee benefits. According to the Washington Post, the protests are the largest in nearly 15 years. They bring together Lebanese from all groups and sects. The target, say protesters, is the entire political class which is viewed as »