Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, May 2020
EA on RTE and Turkey’s ANews: The UN, Israel-Lebanon-Gaza, and Ukraine-Russia
EA on Australia’s ABC and Pat Kenny Show: Israel’s Airstrikes on Hezbollah and Lebanon
I joined India’s WION on Saturday to assess the immediate future for Lebanon’s Hezbollah after the Israeli killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah and senior commanders.
I begin with an analysis of the “serious blow to Hezbollah from which it will take some time to recover”, pointing out Nasrallah’s symbolic as well as political and military importance for the organization.
There is no single Hezbollah figure who can replace him.
Equally important, almost every significant Hezbollah military commander has been assassinated in recent weeks by Israel.
Hezbollah will replace these leaders, but they don’t have the experience that Nasrallah and other commanders had. And Hezbollah’s communications have been ripped apart by Israel.
Hezbollah has very few options, apart from the risky one of firing missiles on Israel.
I discuss Israel’s next steps, assessing that they are likely to be more airstrikes rather than a ground invasion.
The problem now — foremost for the Lebanese people — is that the country is on the point of collapse. Israel, I don’t think, can risk sending in ground forces because they will get bogged down as occupiers in a country which could return to the civil war of only a generation ago.
I conclude by answering, “What is the impact on ceasefire talks?” — “There will be no ceasefire talks” — through a summary of the personal and political aims of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Government.
The US is getting what it wants in the Middle East: https://thecritic.co.uk/the-us-is-getting-what-it-wants-in-the-middle-east/
“Israeli escalations against Hezbollah are not defiance but an extension of U.S. strategy…..Amidst all the American calls for “concern” and “deescalation,” many in the commentariat have assumed that a hapless President Joe Biden is being cuckolded by a reckless, daring Israeli leadership. But the apparent U.S. attempts to restrain Israel are simply part of the broader U.S. strategy to free Israel from external constraints. Domestically, the constant talk of a ceasefire helps defuse unrest over U.S. involvement and build public apathy. Internationally, Biden is playing “good cop” to Israel’s “bad cop,” holding out the option of diplomatic surrender as an alternative to Israeli bombing.”
The Biden administration is responsible for providing the munitions that have killed 17,000 children in Gaza.
msnders on a landline? Or by letter? Osama would communicate by saving emails on pen drives, that would be uploaded onto internet cafes and libarey comuputers and emailed acvordingly to his followers. Mafia dons often commumicate by letters that are ripped up..
Could hez balkenise without its leaders? Thats happened to other armed groups.