Hizbullah

Ma’an News Agency | – – BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — At least 41 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in two suicide bombs targeting a Hezbollah stronghold in the south of the Lebanese capital of Beirut, according to local news reports. Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said initial reports indicated that two suicide bombers blew […]

Bashar al-Assad

Are the Houthis in Yemen really Iranian “Proxies”? What does that even Mean?

contributors

By Ari Heistein | (Informed Comment) — A 2014 al-Monitor headline declared “Yemen’s Houthis Proxy, not Ally for Iran” but then neglected to explain the difference. It is certainly unlikely that the Iranian-Houthi relationship is as strong as the U.S.-Israel or U.S.-Saudi relationship. Why then are the Houthis Iranian proxies but Israel and Saudi Arabia […]

Bashar al-Assad

Hizbullah, Syrian Army push back al-Qaeda in Qalamoun as Christian militia mobilizes

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – Smarting from a string of losses, the proregime coalition of Hizbullah and the Syrian Arab Army is looking for some victories against the al-Qaeda-linked Support Front (Jabhat al-Nusra). They seek them in the Qalamoun mountain range near the Lebanese-Syrian border, where Hizbullah was victorious last year this […]

Hizbullah

Israel and Lebanon: Is a 3rd War in the Offing?

contributors

By Rola El-Husseini | (Special to Informed Comment) – On January 18, 2015 an Israeli military operation lead to the death of Jihad Mughniyah in Quneitra, in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights. According to a retired Israeli general, the timing of the operation that led to the death of Jihad Mugniyah, several other […]

Featured

Ironies of Empire: US now Allied with Shiites Trained by Assassinated HIzbullah Leader

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The revelation by the Washington Post’s Adam Goldman and Ellen Nakashima that the car-bomb assassination of Hizbullah commando Imad Mughniyah in Damascus in 2008 was a joint CIA/ Israeli Mossad operation comes at an awkward time for Washington. The administration of George W. Bush did not target Mughniyah […]

Bashar al-Assad

Israel’s Syria Strike: Is it trying to Help al-Qaeda vs. Hizbullah & Iran?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — There are several questions around the Israeli helicopter gunship strike on Mazari` al-Amal in Syria’s Quneitra Province, which killed Hizbullah personnel and an Iranian general. First, what were the latter doing there? Second, why did Israel strike them? The Israeli cover story, that Hizbullah was planning attacks inside […]

France

Hezbollah’s Surprising Denunciation of Paris Attacks: is it Courting the West?

contributors

By Rola El-Husseini | (Special to Informed Comment) In a speech in Beirut on January 9, 2014, on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed, Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah declared that killings and beheadings by “takfiris” (excommunicators) are more harmful to Islam than are cartoons or books mocking the Prophet. This was […]

Hizbullah

Can Hizbullah save Lebanon from ISIL?

contributors

VICE: “As the Islamic State massacred its way throughout Iraq and Syria this summer, a separate battle took place in neighboring Lebanon. This summer, the Islamic State invaded the Lebanese border town of Arsal, beheading captured soldiers and unleashing waves of lethal car bombs, destabilizing the country. Hezbollah, one of the world’s strongest guerrilla armies, […]

Featured

Pan-Mideast War: ISIL and al-Qaeda attack Hizbullah outposts Near Lebanese Border

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole ISIL and al-Qaeda have, according to Hizbullah, launched attacks in Syria’s Qalamoun district (abutting the Lebanese border near Baalbek) on Hizbullah military outposts on the Syrian side. Hizbullah is acting in Syria as an adjunct to the Syrian Baath Army and helped reduce Qusayr and Homs last spring. The Syrian rebels were […]