My first story for @truthout about how Israel is exploiting the alleged ceasefire to entrench its occupation over south Lebanon.
Excerpt and link below and in bio:
On April 17, Zahra al-Qusaybi woke up to news of a ceasefire in Lebanon. For six weeks, she and her two adult daughters had languished in a crowded school shelter in Saida, a city 27 miles south of the capital Beirut.
They were among 1.1 million people uprooted from their homes when Israel escalated its war on Lebanon on March 2, ostensibly to disarm the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Like many of them, al-Qusaybi and her daughters packed their belongings and returned to their town when the ceasefire was announced. On the ride down, they passed mounds of rubble and their phones vibrated with news of ongoing airstrikes.
Despite the apparent truce, Israel was still bombing south Lebanon. “Israel killed three young men in our town on the day we returned,” al-Qusaybi, 57, told Truthout. “They were killed within the first hour we arrived.”
/articles/despite-ceasefire-israel-continues-to-expand-occupation-of-southern-lebanon/
Israel and Lebanon extended their fragile ceasefire on 23 April, but on the ground, it’s barely holding. The truce is meant to create space for talks on a new security arrangement, with Israel demanding the disarmament of Hezbollah.
But Lebanon’s government faces an impossible choice: disarm Hezbollah and risk internal conflict, or refuse, and face escalating Israeli attacks.
In southern Lebanon, the ‘ceasefire’ exists largely in name only. Israeli airstrikes, shelling, and demolitions have continued.
Meanwhile, a new reality is taking shape. Israel has declared a 10km ‘Yellow Line’ buffer zone along the border, drawing comparisons with Gaza, where 60% of the territory is now under military control. Entire villages have been emptied and destroyed.
With the ceasefire deadline approaching, a bigger question looms: is this temporary, or the start of a permanent Israeli displacement of the south’s population and occupation of the region? @matnashed looks at what could happen next in Lebanon.
Habibi Hamid.
You were a friend and an inspiration. Your intellect epitomised the same raw humanism that made you such a wonderful, beautiful person.
After Muzan died you wrote to me, "We are losing our best," in reference to the many brilliant Sudanese minds that have been lost since the war started.
You are among the very best of human beings, my dear friend.
I'll miss our many phone calls about Sudan and our catch ups over dinners in Khartoum, Cairo and Beirut. I'll miss our running inside jokes, which ranged from my addiction to Sudanese Zalabya and your fanfare of Ibn Hamido.
I'll miss your smile and your vibrant energy. I'll miss your sharp insight and your humble faith that a better, more inclusive and just world is possible - in #Sudan and beyond.
I'll miss you my dear friend.
Rest in power now. I can't believe you're gone but i'll cherish deeply the time we had.
It was a true privilege to have gotten to know you and to call you a friend.
My condolences to all his close friends, his family and the Sudanese community.
A big thanks to @reporter_max and her team at @newinternationalist for inviting me on their podcast to speak about Israel's war on south Lebanon.
My sentiment is that Israel seeks to impose "peace" through domination.
We spoke a few days after a so called ceasefire came into effect. Of course, the ceasefire has only applied to Lebanon.
Like the War on Terror, states like Israel have the self-declared authority to strike and invade whenever they want in the name of defence and fighting "terror."
Link below:
/episode/03gY85TEnO6PokdKbDM7v8?si=C1Fg7SgGTM6-0nemX5UBvA
I thought worth resharing as Israel's war crimes against health care continues. Link below:
/in-war-on-southern-lebanon-israel-targets-hospitals-and-medics/
Israelis are rarely disciplineed for war crimes. They are normally shielded, celebrated and rewarded, often to serve roles as high as the head of state itself.
'It's more than deja vu. It's a military doctrine.'
Within hours of the announcement of 10-day ‘ceasefire’ between Israel and Lebanon on 17 April, Israeli forces were reported to be carrying out demolitions, artillery shelling and land-clearing operations in several border areas of southern Lebanon.
Freelance journalist Mat Nashed joins us on The World Unspun podcast to talk about the 'War on Terror logic' and why civilians continue to bear the brunt of this war.
Full episode coming soon – subscribe and listen to The World Unspun wherever you get your podcasts.
#Lebanon
My latest news story for @thenewarab .
As talks between Israel and Lebanon continue, commentators and civilians from South Lebanon believe that the fragile truce will soon collapse. They say the main obstacle to fruitful talks is Israel's ongoing occupation of villages and towns in the South.
Excerpt below:
With Lebanon's army too weak and ill-supported to defend the country from Israeli aggression, talks risk entrenching Israel’s occupation in southern Lebanon and galvanising support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Even worse, Israel could bring about an internal crisis by threatening to resume an all-out war on Lebanon unless the government aggressively disarms Hezbollah, say civilians and commentators.
"What we have is a situation where the Lebanese government is negotiating with Israel while Israel blows up entire villages in southern Lebanon," said Mohanad Hage Ali, the Deputy Director of Research at the Carnegie Middle East Centre.
"The talks are designed to bring about internal tension in Lebanon," he added.
Link below:
https://lnkd.in/dbpwG99Y
It's hard to hold back the tears.
Oh dear friend Muzan. You were so loved and admired and you'll be deeply missed by so many.
The first time I went to Khartoum, I was supposed to meet Muzan for an interview. That interview became a long, almost 4 or 5 hour discussion about resistance, decolonialism and grassroots politics. She wasn't just advocate for the above, her life and work embodied it. She was fierce and so incredibly kind. And she never wavered nor compromised on her values or her analysis.
We spoke many times since then. And while not as often in the last couple years, she periodically checked in to share observations about local initiatives she read about in Lebanon and the organising work of resistance committees or Emergency Room volunteers in Sudan.
I still can't believe you're gone Muzan. Rest easy now.
Rest in power.
When Israel expanded its war on the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on March 2, Joud and Ali volunteered with the al-Nabatieh Ambulance Association, a local unit founded in 2002. They were among dozens of young volunteers who stayed behind after Israel issued “evacuation orders,” which forced tens of thousands of inhabitants to flee in terror. Some six weeks later, a few dozen families still remain in Nabatieh — many are too poor or sick to flee, while others refuse to abandon their homes. Ali, 22, and Joud, just 16, died helping them.
✍️ @matnashed
📷@linamalers
My latest story in tandem with @linamalers who did photography.
While attacks on healthcare is as old as modern warfare itself, Israel has normalised the practice dating back to its invasion of Lebanon in 1982, at least.
My story @inkstickmedia situates Israel's war on medics in #Lebanon within this broader history
Link and excerpt below:
Israel stepped up its assault on healthcare when it invaded Lebanon in 1982 and besieged the western part of Beirut, the capital. At the time, Israel was at war with the various armed factions that comprised the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Yet during the siege, Israeli forces shelled the Gaza Hospital in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut, as well as the Acre Hospital and the Islamic Home for Invalids. Israel even bombed the Sabra Children’s Hospital. Witnesses recall the trauma of seeing small, severed limbs and burned corpses scattered across the ward. *
Back in Nabatieh, 40-year-old Mahdi Sadek, the head of the Ambulance Association, was sitting on the sofa in their center with colleagues huddled around. I asked him if he believed there was a connection between Israel’s attacks on healthcare during the invasion in 1982 and its attacks on medics today.
“Of course,” he told me. “We are living in a world with double standards, where some people and states are above international accountability.”
/in-war-on-southern-lebanon-israel-targets-hospitals-and-medics/
