Reports that new Hezbollah leader Hassan Khalil Yassin has been killed by the IDFI haven't seen any evidence that he was the new leader of Hezbollah. He was the leader of the intelligence division only, and I am sure a new general leader hasn't been elected yet considering Nasrallah died just yesterday, so there is no "new leader of Hezbollah" to begin with.
Just think how much good 8 billion extra dollars would do to help US citizens if we didn't give it to IsraelOr how much humanitarian aid for Gaza (and likely soon, Lebanon) it could fund.
Just think how much good 8 billion extra dollars would do to help US citizens if we didn't give it to IsraelThe problem is that these money would never be used to help US citizens if they were not sent to Israel.
The problem is that these money would never be used to help US citizens if they were not sent to Israel.We have a roughly trillion dollar deficit every year. It would certainly help with that.
We have a roughly trillion dollar deficit every year. It would certainly help with that.It would indeed.
Sinwar is also incommunicado for the past few weeks.
Israel asked the U.S. to take steps to deter Iran from attacking Israel in response to the Israeli airstrike in Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a top Iranian general, two Israeli and U.S. officials tell Axios.
https://twitter.com/kthalps/status/1840240840045740405
https://twitter.com/Alonso_GD/status/1840126387971305541
I mean, what the hell is even going on here?
Bibi the tzaddiqFuck that on every imaginable level.
Israel launched strikes at Houthi targets in Yemen on Sunday after the Houthi militants fired missiles at Israel over the past two days, marking a fresh exchange in another front of the regional conflict.
The Israeli military said in a statement that dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, attacked power plants and a sea port at the Ras Issa and Hodeidah ports.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-launches-strikes-yemeni-houthi-targets-2024-09-29/
They appear committed to continuing until they've wiped out the threats against them or until Iran interdicts.
They appear committed to continuing until they've wiped out the threats against them or until Iran interdicts.
In what world is this rational or sustainable, especially when your actions are creating threats to yourself?
This could all have remained isolated to Israel and Palestine, but Israel escalated regional conflict with pager and walkie-talkie detonation attacks.
(Can we call those indiscriminate terrorism, as they would meet the definition if conducted by a non-governmental body, or are we limited to merely classifying them as "attacks?")
In the case of Hezbollah, this wasn't isolated. Northern regions in Israel are literally depopulated because of refugees as Hezbollah was firing rockets before any incursion into Gaza.
The use of force is way out of proportion
but there came a point when Israel was directly responding to attacks.
Are we treating Hezbollah as a part of the Lebanese government, because missiles back and forth are acts of actual war at that point, aren't they?That's questionable at this point, because Hezbollah is the de facto government in many places, even if it's officially a stateless actor.
And if we treat them as just a terrorist organization, Israel is firing rockets into someone else's sovereign territory. Even if it's morally justified, the political ramifications in the region alone would be staggering.
Israel has a right to defend itself against any attacks. Even Hezbollah rockets from across the border. That's one of the responsibilities of the Iron Dome, yes? But...
Very much so.Yeah, we're agreeing here. I mean, leveling a city block even to get Nasrallah and the rest of the high command is bad, but some strikes are probably justified at this point even if the pager blast and the bunker buster weren't.
Launching incursions into someone's sovereign airspace, striking infrastructure, and blindly detonating bombs doesn't feel like a "direct response" anymore.
A direct response would be firing on the launch sites of the missile attacks within minutes of shooting down the original missiles. Not... <gestures broadly> this.
It's absolutely not irrational. It's just disproportionate and overly brutal with little care for collateral.I agree. What we're seeing is the end of human shields as a working defensive strategy.
I think it's silly to pretend that Hezbollah is nothing more than an Iranian proxy and that Iran is some kind of mastermind behind all of this. Hezbollah is a complex and quite sophisticated political organisation which has grown over 40 years driven by a popular movement. They formed in response to the vicious invasion and atrocities committed by Israel in Lebanon in 1982, and also as a result of the political vacuum that Israel created in Lebanon, partly due to the elimination of the PLO, partly due to the failure of the Lebanese government, and also because of the weakness and ineffectiveness of the Lebanese military to provide any kind of resistance or deterrence to future Israeli aggression. The violence and insecurity that Israel propagates only fuels further resistance.
The axis of resistance is a defensive coalition employed as a textbook balancing strategy to offset US/Israeli aggression in the region.
Just a month ago the former Israeli General Yitzhak Brik was writing in Haaretz that, "Israel Will Collapse Within a Year if the War of Attrition Against Hamas and Hezbollah Continues". With economic and political instability looming, time is certainly not on Israel's side in this conflict.
This only makes sense if you view the US as the source of all evil whereas anything against the US is "good."
...says the person who clearly thinks the ones committing genocide are the "good" guys.Wrong, try again
It's not about goodies and baddies, this is a mickey mouse worldview, a childish dichotomy formed by toddlers.They're very much a proxy of Iran, I don't even know how this is debatable. They follow Iran's orders, the head of their religion is literally the Ayatollah. Regardless of how they formed, they subordinated to Iran quite quickly.
And I don't know why you're accusing me of whitewashing anything. Whatever you think of Hezbollah, my point which you seem to have missed was that they are not simply a proxy of Iran, they were not built by Iran, and they are not controlled by Iran. They are no more a proxy of Iran than Israel is a proxy of the US.
Secondarily, to explain the coalition between Hezbollah and Iran as well as others I was making a point about how separate (weaker) elements coalesce as a balancing strategy to offset the imbalance created by greater powers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balancing_(international_relations)
This is merely an observation of power dynamics rooted in international relations theory to explain how rival powers form. It has nothing to do with whitewashing anything, though I can understand why someone arguing from an entrenched ideological perspective might think that, you obviously seem invested on a personal level.
I'm saying Israel has played a far more influential role in the existence and development of Hezbollah than Iran ever has.
I honestly don't know how LightSnake hasn't been suspended yet.
Literally MEMRI. LOL
I honestly don't know how LightSnake hasn't been suspended yet.
https://x.com/electionwiz/status/1840577622297722965?s=46Big oof right there.
reminder that this guy is actively still president right now
https://x.com/ragipsoylu/status/1840671666940039461
Iran straight up saying "you're on your own, guys."
https://x.com/ragipsoylu/status/1840671666940039461
Iran straight up saying "you're on your own, guys."
https://x.com/ragipsoylu/status/1840671666940039461Yeah, this is clear as it gets really.
Iran straight up saying "you're on your own, guys."
https://x.com/ragipsoylu/status/1840671666940039461Also throws Pezeshkian under the bus. It's a twofer.
Iran straight up saying "you're on your own, guys."
In a recent press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi insisted that Arab and Muslim countries will guarantee Israels security if Jerusalem agrees to allow the establishment of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines, while blasting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus refusal to do so.
The Israeli prime minister came here today and said that Israel is surrounded by those who want to destroy it, Safadi said at a Friday press conference shortly after Netanyahu finished his speech at the UN General Assembly.
Were here members of the Muslim-Arab committee, mandated by 57 Arab and Muslim countries and I can tell you very unequivocally, all of us are willing to guarantee the security of Israel in the context of Israel ending the occupation and allowing for the emergence of a Palestinian state, Safadi passionately argued.
Netanyahu is creating that danger because he simply does not want the two-state solution. If he does not want the two-state solution, can you ask Israeli officials what is their end-game other than just wars and wars and wars?
All of us in the Arab world here, want a peace in which Israel lives in peace and security, accepted, normalized with all Arab countries in the context of ending the occupation, withdrawing from Arab territory, allowing for the emergence of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 lies with East Jerusalem as its capital, Safadi continues.
The amount of damage that this Israeli government has done 30 years of efforts to convince people that peace is possible, this Israeli government killed it. The amount of dehumanization, hatred, bitterness, will take generations to navigate through, the Jordanian foreign minister says. We have no partner for peace in Israel, there is a partner for peace in the Arab world, and thats why the international community needs to move.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/jordanian-fm-arab-world-willing-to-guarantee-israels-security-if-palestinian-state-established/
He obviously doesn't speak for Iran, and how much they can do to honor their guarantee is debatable, but the underlying point he's making isn't wrong. So long as Palestinians are subjected to apartheid conditions, resentment will persist. And so long as resentment persists, lasting peace will be impossible.
The bitterest irony is a Palestinian state is the single most obvious way to secure a lasting peace and security, but it's the option that is most adamantly opposed by even mainstream parties in Israel who wish to keep the Palestinians as a permanent and stateless underclass.I don't think they want to keep them as a permanent underclass.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting to end the war, which seems more relevant to what many desire than several dozen on boat toursYes, there are, and it is very important to acknowledge this - because its a reminder that average Israeli (and/or Jewish) people are not responsible for this. However, these average people also arent the ones with the power to change anything.