Dr Maung Zarni on martyrdom of Hasan NasraAllah and the Middle East

This message is a little bit old now. - HS

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Dear friends--

A couple of hours ago, Hizbullah confirmed that its leader of the past 32 years, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, was killed, apparently in the massive air-raid the Israeli military launched against the Southern Beirut suburbs yesterday. That air-raid and the many others the Israelis have launched against Lebanon over the past week have killed hundreds-- or quite likely thousands-- of Lebanese people, maimed and displaced many more, and destroyed swathes of the country's vital infrastructure. Our deep condolences to all of them.

We can recall that the Israeli military's long-established "Dahiyeh Doctrine", which calls for pulverization of large portions of advanced urban infrastructure, was named after the assault it undertook against that same South Beirut "Dahiyeh" ("neighborhood") in 2006.  Over the past year, Israel has practiced the Doctrine relentlessly against the cities of the Gaza Strip and their residents and has faced ZERO actions from Washington to restrain those genocidal acts. Indeed, Pres. Biden has continued to provide Israel with everything it needed to keep on. committing them. And now Israel has also taken them (back?) to Lebanon-- and also to the West Bank.

The coming days and weeks will show where all this might lead-- including for the 40,000 U.S. service-members deployed throughout West Asia (the "Middle East".) A few things are worth bearing in mind, though:

(1) The broad destruction that Israel has wrought in Lebanon is highly unlikely to force Hizbullah and its many allies to capitulate-- just as Israel's pulverizing of Gaza has not brought Hamas to its knees.

(2) In 1992, Israel succeeded in killing Hizbullah's previous leader. That did not bring Hizbullah to its knees. Indeed, it brought Hassan Nasrallah to the leadership spot. Over the years that followed 1992 he built new capabilities for the party and its militia, which in 2000 was finally able to force an ignominious end to the occupation of South Lebanon that Israel had maintained since 1982.

(3) Hizbullah (like Hamas) has always paid great attention to training younger generations of cadres and fighters, in the clear knowledge that Israeli decapitation projects would be very likely.

(4) The Israelis have declared no clear political goals in Lebanon except the need to secure the "living space" (lebensraum?) of their citizens in the north of Israel. If a Somalia-style chaos ensues in Lebanon, which is one possibility among many, that seems to be of no concern to them.

(5) This crisis certainly affects the security of the numerous U.S. military and naval assets strung out throughout the region. Incidentally, it does so at a time when a vital piece of the US Navy's operational logistics, the sole USN "oiler" resupply ship in the whole region, is suddenly out of action.

Fyi, back on Monday I pulled together some of my own past writings on Hizbullah and the Lebanese Shiite community from which it arose, in this post on Globalities. The pieces linked to there are are from 1985, 2005, and 2006. That last one describes the last time Israel mounted an earlier major assault on Lebanon, back in 2006... and how it then took Hizbullah only 33 days to force Israel into a humiliating retreat.
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And as the Israeli military continues to shift its forces toward the Lebanese border, it leaves behind in Gaza just enough forces to continue the slow, grinding genocide-by-starvation-and-disease of the Strip's remaining population.

 And as the Israeli military continues to shift its forces toward the Lebanese border, it leaves behind in Gaza just enough forces to continue the slow, grinding genocide-by-starvation-and-disease of the Strip's remaining population.

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Meantime, Just World Ed's project to provide solid, analytically objective resources about the history and development of the widely demonized organization Hamas continues, right across the United States and worldwide:

This week: 'Understanding Hamas' book events in NYC (Wed.) and a NEW one in Washington DC (Thurs.)!

The big first launch for the book will be, as I've noted previously, on Wed., October 2, at the event space that our publisher, OR Books, runs on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Where: 40 Avenue C, Manhattan
When: 5:30 pm
Who: My co-author Rami Khouri, our friend David Wildman, and myself
What: A discussion about the book-- which will be livestreamed, here, starting around 6 pm ET
Request: That live attendees send an RSVP beforehand to events@orbooks.com.

Washington DC, Thursday, Oct. 3:

I was delighted when the wellknown DC activists' hub (and great bookstore/restaurant) Busboys & Poets invited me to come and talk about the book with our old friend the Israeli-American justice activist Miko Peled. Busboys' owner Andy Shallal and I agreed that scheduling this as soon as possible would be great, and he picked his lovely Brooklands location to house it:

Where: Busboys, 625 Monroe St. NE, WDC
When: 6 pm
Who: Miko Peled and me
More info: Here
Request: That attendees RSVP beforehand by "buying" a FREE ticket via this form.