hezbollah

'Disarmament:' The Challenge of Peace

In this final week of October, the Disarmament Week set by the United Nations resonates with new urgency. On one front, Washington has issued an ultimatum to Hamas to disarm under Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan. On another, the Lebanese government is under US pressure to disarm Hezbollah, a key Iranian proxy in the region. Tehran remains ...

Lebanon’s Last Chance: Disarm Hezbollah or Risk Collapse

Lebanon’s long‑simmering debate over Hezbollah’s disarmament has sharpened into a defining confrontation between state sovereignty and a foreign‑backed militia. In Washington, the issue is becoming the centerpiece of US regional policy. For President Trump’s administration, Hezbollah’s disarmament is not merely a security objective but ...

Clearfield's Mechanism: Remaking Peace, Once Again

Same story, same players. After every lull along the southern border, the same words return, the same statements roll out, the same diplomats spring into action, each convinced that this time, “it’s different.” We hear about a “gradual de-escalation plan,” a “monitoring mechanism,” a “return to the core resolutions.” Earnest ...

Israeli Raid on Toul Kills Two, Including Hezbollah Member

Two people were killed on Friday in an Israeli air raid on the Toul region in the Nabatieh caza, southern Lebanon. The victims were identified as Hussein al-Abd Hamdan, a Hezbollah member who had survived last year’s Pager explosion, and Abbas Hassan Karaki, who was driving a Honda CR-V at the time of the strike. Karaki’s brother, Radwan ...

Assassination Casts Dark Cloud over Iraqi Elections

In the early hours of October 15, an IED tore through a Chevy Tahoe in Baghdad’s northern outskirts, killing Safaa al-Mashhadani, a candidate in Iraq’s upcoming parliamentary elections. Three days later, gunmen opened fire on the office of another candidate, Muthanna al-Azzawi, 25 kilometers south of the Iraqi ...

Violent Airstrikes Rock Beqaa and Hermel

A series of Israeli airstrikes shook the Beqaa and Hermel regions on Thursday. Loud explosions were heard in the areas of Janta, Shmistar and the heights of Hermel. The Israeli army announced that it carried out a series of airstrikes against Hezbollah positions in the Beqaa and northern Lebanon. According to a statement from the Israeli army, ...

Flights Over a Nest of Fools!

More than half of Ici Beyrouth and This is Beirut’s audience lives between France, North America and Africa. Those of you reading from these far-off lands are lucky enough not to be, like us, lulled from dawn to dusk by the relentless hum of drones. Yes, they are back. And this time, they are flying even lower. Beirutis have gone all out, ...

Senate Panel Probes Hezbollah Links to Latin American Drug Trade

The US Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control convened a hearing on Tuesday to examine suspected connections between Hezbollah and Latin American drug trafficking networks, as lawmakers warned of the group’s expanding footprint in the Western Hemisphere. Chaired by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), the bipartisan session focused on ...

Hezbollah’s Rapid Rebuilding Outpaces Lebanon’s Disarmament Efforts

Hezbollah’s accelerated rebuilding efforts risk provoking an Israeli response if Lebanon does not act swiftly, according to Western intelligence sources cited by The Jerusalem Post. In a report published Tuesday, the Israeli daily highlighted the group’s ongoing efforts to rearm and reconstruct, even as the Lebanese government has officially ...