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Ex-intel officer questions Israeli strategy in Lebanon as losses mount

Al Mayadeen | April 19, 2026

A former Israeli Military Intelligence officer has questioned the Israeli occupation’s strategy in southern Lebanon, pointing to mounting losses since the ceasefire took effect.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Jacques Neriah told i24 News that Hezbollah has emerged stronger from the war despite extensive Israeli bombing and attacks, noting that the group “represents the resistance against Israel, and this is its primary source of strength.”

“If we are sustaining daily losses in Lebanon, how long can we endure this situation?” he asked.

2 killed, dozen injured since ceasefire

The Israeli military command had announced that an Israeli reservist soldier was killed and nine others were wounded in an improvised explosive device incident in southern Lebanon on Saturday. Reports indicate that the incident occurred in the border village of Kfar Kila, opposite of Metulla, which has seen extensive periods of Israeli military occupation and incursions since the 66-day war on Lebanon in 2024.

On Sunday, Israeli media reported that an Israeli soldier was killed and nine others were wounded, including one seriously, after an explosive device detonated in an area it occupies in southern Lebanon. The soldier served in the 769th “Hiram” Regional Brigade’s 7106th Battalion.

According to an initial military probe, the incident occurred during operations in Israeli-occupied territory, where an engineering vehicle was struck by an IED planted in the area. Troops securing the machinery were caught in the blast, resulting in multiple casualties. The wounded were airlifted to hospitals, while the Israeli regime says its forces launched their own attacks near the area following the explosion.

A day earlier, Israeli media reported that another reservist, a warrant officer, was killed and three soldiers were wounded in a similar explosion in the southern Lebanese village of Jebbayn. The troops were reportedly scanning a building for weapons when the device detonated.

Continued attacks, occupation in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military command had announced that its forces would operate in a so-called “advanced defense zone” within southern occupied Lebanon, extending from Ras al-Bayyada on the coast to Shebaa in the east. The zone is seen as a prelude to a prolonged Israeli occupation and an attempt to push settlers within Lebanese territory.

The announcement comes as part of a push by the Israeli regime to impose a new status quo in areas located in a region 8-10 km from Israeli sites in occupied Lebanese, Palestinian, and Syrian territories.

However, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon has emphasized that a ceasefire must include a complete halt to Israeli violations, including incursions and destruction of property.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem stated that the Resistance remains prepared to respond to any aggression, stressing that the ceasefire cannot be one-sided and must be respected by both parties. He outlined key priorities for the next phase, including a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese territory, the return of displaced residents to their villages, and the launch of reconstruction efforts supported at both the national and international levels.

Sheikh Qassem also stressed the importance of strengthening Lebanese sovereignty, maintaining internal unity, and preventing foreign interference.

April 19, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , | Comments Off on Ex-intel officer questions Israeli strategy in Lebanon as losses mount

Netanyahu’s ‘total victory’ to total flop

By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | April 19, 2026

Promising annihilation, dominance, and total victory, the Israeli leadership has found itself in a predicament no closer to victory on any front. Tactical victories sold as strategic ones have been exposed; instead of meticulously planned operations, Tel Aviv engages in aggression without any discernible long-term strategy to achieve its stated aims.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli regime of old is no more. Instead of implementing methodical planning, public deception, and fighting the long game, its thinking has been replaced by a ruthlessly violent vengeance scheme that seeks to try and achieve in months what it was previously aiming for over decades.

The beginning of the war on Iran was not February 28, 2026; instead, it was October 7, 2023. This was the moment when everything changed in the strategic thinking of the Israeli leadership. For them, the illusion of absolute control and superiority was crushed under the boots of a few thousand Palestinian fighters, who single-handedly dealt the most severe blow to the Zionist regime in its history.

As an event, the collapse of the Israeli southern command at the hands of a guerrilla force possessing homemade light weapons, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, represented the moment of a great shift. It wasn’t long before the decision was made to launch a genocide against the people of Gaza.

Inflicting the genocide was the whole strategy, not dealing a military defeat to Hamas or any other Palestinian organizations. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu foolishly believed that the genocide would restore the Zionist entity’s prized “deterrence capacity”, while the side effects of the genocide would mean the de facto defeat of the Resistance, destroying Palestinian will to resist that could lead to a mass ethnic cleansing event that would end up inflicting a predicament on Hamas that replicates the PLO’s defeat in 1982.

When it became clear that this strategy was not working inside Gaza itself, the Israeli military continued without any clear goals and launched operation after operation in desperate attempts to achieve their desired outcomes. The majority of the tasks performed inside Gaza by the invading ground forces were simply round-the-clock demolition work; so much that they even recruited private businesses and settler employees to aid in these efforts.

Ultimately, they ran into a major problem; after two years, they had still failed and presented a plan to try to implement a West Bank-style occupation over Gaza City, a task that experts predicted could take them a decade. This is why they accepted a ceasefire, one in which the war was simply frozen and meant they were able to engage in a prisoner exchange.

In Lebanon, they were also put into a difficult predicament. The stance of former Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had been that Lebanon would remain a support front for Gaza until the very end. “Hamas will win,” stated Nasrallah in a 2023 speech, after which he asserted that “no matter where the region is taken,” Hezbollah will stand with Gaza.

The daily operations by Hezbollah were a thorn in its side, which is why the Israelis began planning to escalate in an unprecedented way. Through their terrorist indiscriminate pager attacks, followed by the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership, the Israelis believed they had dealt a death blow to Hezbollah.

Selling this lie to the public, the Israeli leadership claimed a major victory and alleged to have taken out around 80% of Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal.

In March, when Hezbollah began responding to the some 15,400 ceasefire violations committed by the Zionists, suddenly the Israeli public was jolted back by the power and coordination with which Hezbollah managed to attack, especially as these operations were carried out alongside Iran’s missile and drone strikes.

Eventually, failing to score victories in key towns like Bint Jbeil and Khiam, the Israelis begrudgingly accepted a temporary ceasefire, one that they immediately violated.

If it were true that the Israelis were close to, or even believed that a victory over Hezbollah was possible, they would not take any ceasefire agreement of any description. Instead, they were forced to go back to the drawing board.

Similarly, they launched the 12-day war on Iran and came out empty-handed. They also used their US allies to launch an air assault on Yemen and failed to achieve any of their goals. Then came the February 28 attack on Iran, where the largest blows were landed during the first 24 hours, yet even with the US on their side, their aspirations for regime change quickly faded into a distant memory.

When Yemen’s Ansar Allah joined the war in support of Iran and Hezbollah, the Israelis didn’t even launch strikes on Yemen, likely due to it being a useless endeavour.

So as it stands, the Lebanon front is again open, the Iran front was fought to a standstill with no goals achieved, Yemen is open whenever there is aggression on their allies, and Gaza is a temporarily frozen arena that they still have no plan for. Even in Syria, the constant aggression is like playing with fire.

Meanwhile, the delusional Zionist leadership is still chasing its aspirations of a “Greater Israel”, threatening even Turkey with retaliation for simply criticizing them. What this behaviour and all of their decision-making since October 7 point to is an irrational inability to close any conflict, lacking any coherent plans to win.

Therefore, the Israelis will use any and all ceasefire agreements in order to go back to the drawing board, in order to conjure up new plans for further aggression. Whether it’s a Lebanon, Gaza, or Iran ceasefire, they are not about to give up on attacking everyone mercilessly.

This means that despite all of its efforts and attacks over the past two and a half years, the predicament they find themselves in has not changed. A ceasefire kicks the can down the road, simply delaying the inevitable resumption of war. Either the Israelis are totally defeated in battle, or they will continue to attack again and again. This will go around in circles until they are eventually defeated.

April 19, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Netanyahu’s ‘total victory’ to total flop

Hezbollah denies involvement in deadly attack on UNIFIL in south Lebanon

Al-Mayadeen | April 18, 2026

Hezbollah has denied any involvement in an incident targeting United Nations observers in southern Lebanon earlier today.

In a statement, the group said it “calls for caution in issuing judgments and responsibilities regarding the incident,” urging restraint until facts are fully established.

The movement specifically rejected any responsibility for the incident involving UNIFIL forces in the al-Ghandourieh–Bint Jbeil area, stressing that blame should not be assigned before the Lebanese Army completes its investigation and clarifies the circumstances.

Emphasis on coordination and stability

Hezbollah also highlighted the importance of maintaining cooperation between local residents, UNIFIL, and the Lebanese Army. It emphasized the need for coordination between the army and UN peacekeepers, particularly given the current sensitive conditions.

The group further “expressed surprise at the [parties] that rushed to throw accusations arbitrarily, while remaining silent when Israeli forces target UNIFIL personnel.”

Earlier today, UNIFIL said a patrol clearing explosive ordnance along a road in the village of Ghandourieh came under small-arms fire “from non-state actors”, leaving one observer dead and three others wounded, including two in serious condition.

UNIFIL warns IOF movement limits threaten mission logistics flow

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has reported that a routine convoy carrying military and civilian peacekeepers, along with essential contractors, was stopped by Israeli forces a few kilometres from its destination in Naqoura on Tuesday afternoon.

UNIFIL said the incident is not isolated, adding that similar restrictions, whether through physical roadblocks or the reversal of prior clearances, have affected both peacekeepers and essential supporting personnel.

The incidents are part of a broader pattern of Israeli aggression targeting the UNIFIL’s presence on the ground.

Late last month, a UNIFIL patrol was subjected to an Israeli attack on the Bani Hayyan-Tallouseh road, resulting in two peacekeepers killed and two others injured, with a helicopter from the Naqoura area intervening to evacuate the wounded.

April 18, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Comments Off on Hezbollah denies involvement in deadly attack on UNIFIL in south Lebanon

The prospect of an expanded and far more violent war

By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | April 18, 2026

… Earlier this month, Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich declared an official start to the Greater Israel project. He included Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine in the project. Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, Zionists have strived to weaken neighboring states, dismantle their military capacity, and worked to reshape the balance of power in West Asia. The original plan called for occupying and ethnically cleansing the entirety of Palestine, all of Jordan, south Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and northern Saudi Arabia.

The Nazis had a similar plan during their occupation of Europe in the Second World War. It was called the “Greater Germanic Reich” (Großgermanisches Reich). In the autumn of 1933, Adolf Hitler made plans to annex territories including Bohemia, parts of western Poland, and Austria to Germany. He also aimed to create satellite or puppet states that would lack independent economies or policies. Nazi racial theories classified the Germanic peoples of Europe as part of a racially superior Nordic subset within the broader Aryan race, which they considered to be the sole true bearers of civilized culture.

In Deuteronomy, the Jewish God chooses Israel to be his holy (kadosh) and treasured (segulah) people. Deuteronomy 14:2 states God has chosen the Jews “to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” According to the Torah, “Eretz Israel” (“Land of Israel” in Hebrew), now defined as “Greater Israel,” was “given” to the “children of Abraham” and serves as the basis for “a merger of religious fundamentalism and modern political ethno-nationalism, whereby ancient texts are used to justify a modern military expansionist state.” In regard to Lebanon, the Zionists believe Greater Israel extends up to the Sidon and Litani rivers.

According to Amichai Friedman, a rabbi in the Israeli Army, “This land is ours, the whole land, including Gaza, including Lebanon,” while Daniella Weiss, a Jewish ethnonationalist and former mayor of Kedumim, called for the “invasion of Lebanon” immediately after the war in Gaza. Lebanon-born Israeli journalist Edy Cohen posted to social media that areas of Lebanon, including Faraya and Kesrouan, will also suffer the fate of Gaza, that is to say ethnic cleansing, massacres, and wholesale theft of land, homes (those not demolished), and infrastructure. … Full article

April 18, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The prospect of an expanded and far more violent war

The collapse is real – Lebanon ceasefire marks a historic strategic defeat

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | April 17, 2026

A ceasefire in Lebanon was announced on Thursday by US President Donald Trump, but its reality tells a very different story. The ceasefire was not the product of American diplomacy, nor Israeli strategic calculation. It was imposed—largely as a result of sustained Iranian pressure.

Washington, Tel Aviv, and their allies—including some within Lebanon itself—will continue to deny this reality. Acknowledging Iran’s role would mean admitting that a historic precedent has been set: for the first time, forces opposing the United States and Israel have succeeded in imposing conditions on both.

This is not a minor development. It is a strategic rupture. But it is not the only fundamental shift now underway: Israel’s very approach to war and diplomacy is itself changing.

After failing to secure victory through overwhelming violence, Israel is increasingly relying on coercive diplomacy to impose political outcomes.

Over the past two to three decades, this Israeli strategy has become unmistakably clear: achieving through diplomacy what it has failed to impose on the battlefield.

‘Diplomacy’ as War

Israeli ‘diplomacy’ does not conform to the conventional meaning of the term. It is not negotiation between equals, nor a genuine pursuit of peace. Rather, it is diplomacy fused with violence: assassinations, sieges, blockades, political coercion, and the systematic manipulation of internal divisions within opposing societies. It is diplomacy as an extension of war by other means.

Likewise, Israel’s conception of the ‘battlefield’ is fundamentally different. The deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is not incidental, nor merely ‘collateral damage’; it is central to the strategy itself.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Gaza. Following the ongoing genocide, vast swathes of Gaza have been reduced to rubble, with estimates indicating that around 90 percent of the whole of Gaza has been destroyed. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, women and children consistently account for roughly 70 percent of all of Gaza’s casualties.

This is not collateral damage. It is the deliberate destruction of a civilian population, an act of genocide that is designed to force mass displacement and remake the political and demographic reality in Israel’s favor.

The same logic extends beyond Gaza. It shapes Israel’s wars in Lebanon against Hezbollah and its broader confrontation with Iran.

The United States, Israel’s principal ally, has historically operated within a similar paradigm. From Vietnam to Iraq, civilian populations, infrastructure, and even the environment itself have borne the brunt of American warfare.

A Faltering Model 

It is often argued that Israel turned to ‘diplomacy’ following its forced withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 under resistance pressure. While this moment was pivotal, it was not the beginning.

Earlier precedents exist. The First Intifada (1987–1993) demonstrated that a sustained popular uprising could not be crushed through brute force alone. Despite Israel’s extensive repression, the revolt endured.

It was in this context that the Oslo Accords emerged—not as a genuine peace process, but as a strategic lifeline. Through Oslo, Israel achieved politically what it could not impose militarily: the pacification of the uprising, the institutionalization of Palestinian political fragmentation, and the transformation of the Palestinian Authority into a mechanism for internal control.

Meanwhile, settlement expansion accelerated, and Israel reaped the global legitimacy of appearing as a ‘peace-seeking’ state.

Yet the last two decades have exposed the limits of this model.

From Lebanon in 2006 to repeated wars on Gaza (2008–09, 2012, 2014, 2021, and the ongoing genocide since 2023), Israel has failed to secure decisive strategic victories. Its ongoing confrontations with Hezbollah and Iran further underscore this failure

Not only has Israel been unable to achieve its stated military objectives, but it has also failed to translate overwhelming firepower—even genocide—into lasting political gains.

Some interpret this as a shift toward perpetual war under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But this reading is incomplete.

Perpetual War? 

Netanyahu understands that these wars cannot be sustained indefinitely. Yet ending them without victory would carry even greater consequences: the collapse of Israel’s deterrence doctrine and, potentially, the unraveling of its broader project of regional dominance.

This dilemma strikes at the heart of Zionist ideology, particularly Ze’ev Jabotinsky’s concept of the ‘Iron Wall’—the belief that overwhelming, unrelenting force would eventually compel indigenous resistance to surrender.

Today, that premise is being tested—and found wanting.

Netanyahu has repeatedly framed current wars as existential, comparable in significance to 1948—the war that resulted in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians during the Nakba and the establishment of Israel.

Indeed, the parallels are unmistakable: mass displacement, civilian terror, systematic destruction, and unwavering Western backing—once from Britain, now from the United States.

But there is a critical difference: The 1948 war led to the creation of Israel; the current wars are about its survival as an exclusivist settler colonial project.

And herein lies the paradox: the longer these wars continue, the more they expose Israel’s inability to secure decisive outcomes. Yet ending them without victory risks a historic defeat—not only for Netanyahu, but for the ideological foundations of the Israeli state itself.

Israeli society appears to recognize the stakes. Polls throughout 2024 and 2025 have shown overwhelming support among Israeli Jews for continued military campaigns in Gaza and confrontations with Iran and Lebanon.

Public discourse frames this support in terms of ‘security’ and ‘deterrence’. But the underlying reality is deeper: a collective recognition that the long-standing project of military supremacy is faltering.

Having failed to subdue Gaza despite the genocide, Israel is now attempting to achieve through diplomatic maneuvering what it could not secure through war. Proposals for international oversight, stabilization forces, and externally imposed governance structures are all variations of this approach

But these efforts are unlikely to succeed.

Gaza is no longer isolated. The regional dimension of the conflict has expanded, linking Lebanon, Iran, and other actors into a broader, interconnected front.

Balance is Shifting 

In Lebanon, Israel has been repeatedly forced toward ceasefire arrangements not out of choice, but because it failed to defeat Hezbollah or break the will of the Lebanese people.

This dynamic extends to Iran. Following the joint aggression on Iran starting February 28, both the United States and Israel were compelled to accept de-escalation frameworks after failing to achieve rapid or decisive outcomes.

The expectation that Iran could be quickly destabilized—replicating the models of Iraq or Libya—proved illusory. Instead, the confrontation revealed the limits of military escalation and forced a return to negotiations.

This is the essence of Israel’s current predicament.

Diplomacy, in this model, is not an alternative to war—it is a pause within it. A temporary tool used to regroup before the next phase of confrontation.

But in Israel’s case, this aggressive ‘diplomacy’ is increasingly becoming the only available tool, precisely because its military strategy has failed to deliver victory.

Lebanon was meant to be the exception—a theater where Israel could isolate and defeat Hezbollah. Instead, it became further evidence of strategic failure.

Efforts to separate the fronts—Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Iran—have collapsed. Iran has explicitly linked its diplomatic engagement to developments on other fronts, forcing Israel into a broader strategic entanglement it cannot control.

This marks a profound shift.

The foundational pillars of Israeli strategy—overwhelming force, fragmentation of adversaries, narrative control, and political engineering—are no longer functioning as they once did

Yet Netanyahu continues to project victory, declaring success at regular intervals, invoking deterrence, and framing ongoing wars as strategic achievements.

But these narratives ring hollow.

The reality, increasingly evident to observers across the region and beyond, is that the balance is finally shifting.

For the first time in decades, the trajectory of history is no longer bending in Israel’s favor.

April 17, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Comments Off on The collapse is real – Lebanon ceasefire marks a historic strategic defeat

Israel Considers Ceasefire a Betrayal

Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz during 10-day ceasefire

By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | April 17, 2026

The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Nawaf Salam, thanked President Trump for a ten-day ceasefire announced on Truth Social that took effect at 5PM on Thursday, April 16. Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the US-brokered deal, but with the same caveat imposed after Hamas conducted its Operation Al-Aqsa Flood breakout and offensive on October 7, 2023.

Israel reserves the right, the US State Department said, to carry out strikes in Lebanon “at any time” under Article 3 of the agreement. Netanyahu’s carte blanche states:

“Israel shall preserve its right to take all necessary measures in self-defense, at any time, against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks. This shall not be impeded by the cessation of hostilities. Besides this, it will not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, and other state targets, in the territory of Lebanon by land, air, and sea.”

A similar double standard permitted Israel to violate the Gaza ceasefire agreement at least 2,400 times from October 10, 2025 to April 14, 2026, killing more than 700 Palestinians in the process.

“Israel has made a mockery of the supposed ceasefire agreements in both Lebanon and Palestine,” writes Maryam Jameela for The Canary. “They’re able to keep killing people, and to keep restricting the necessary conditions for life because international governments continue to allow them to.”

In Lebanon, Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh insisted his country is part of the US-brokered ceasefire arranged between Iran and Israel. Ibrahim al-Moussawi, a Hezbollah lawmaker, said the group would respect the deal if Israel did not target Hezbollah.

Trump said Hezbollah is party to the ceasefire and added that the government of Joseph Aoun will work to disarm the resistance group. “They’re going to be having a ceasefire and that will include Hezbollah,” the president told reporters. He added that he hopes “Hezbollah will behave.”

The paramilitary group, formed in the early 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War in response to an Israeli invasion and occupation of south Lebanon, insists it will not disarm. “We will not surrender or give up to Israel,” said Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem last July. “Israel will not take our weapons away from us.” In November, after assassinating Hezbollah’s Chief of Staff, Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Netanyahu called on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah, a task it is not capable of accomplishing.

Israeli Media: Ceasefire is a “Double Submission”

In Israel, response to the ten-day ceasefire was met with anger and hostility by officials, journalists, and analysts. According to Israeli Channel 14, Netanyahu’s cabinet members reacted angrily at learning of the deal through social media. Israeli media framed the ceasefire as a betrayal and sellout to Hezbollah.

Marwa Osman, a journalist and television show host in Beirut, summarized the reactions on her X account.

Tamir Morag of Channel 14: “The way President Trump announced the ceasefire was embarrassing for Israel. It was clear that Israel’s interest was to continue fighting against Hezbollah.”

The nationalist opposition leader of Yisrael Beiteinu (“Israel is Our Home”), Avigdor Lieberman, complained, “The ceasefire in Lebanon is a betrayal of the residents of the north. The war must not end without a decisive outcome and the elimination of Hezbollah; this October 7 government has learned nothing.”

Ariel Kahane, a senior Israeli journalist and diplomatic correspondent for Israel Hayom daily, declared, “Donald Trump’s move reflects a double submission to Iran: Trump is aligning with Iran’s linking of the war in its territory to Lebanon. He is leaving one of Iran’s arms alive, active, and dangerous.”

Benny Ben Muvchar, head of the Mevoot Hermon Regional Council in northern Israel: “Hezbollah is still strong and waiting for us… the [Arab dominant] Galilee is being emptied of its residents, and we are being led by Trump’s whims.”

Israel’s i24 News characterized the ceasefire as a gift to Iran. “A more alarming development is that Iran itself informed the Americans that it wants to see a ceasefire in Lebanon, in order to advance negotiations between Tehran and Washington. What is happening amounts to a gift to Tehran at the expense of the northern settlements,” while Channel 13 complained the “ceasefire in Lebanon was imposed on Israel.”

“Residents of the north feel once again that they have been betrayed,” Channel 13 also reported. “We felt it during the ‘Iron Swords’ war [response to al-Asqa Flood], and we feel it again today. The fact that the U.S. President announced the ceasefire only highlights the distance between the Israeli Prime Minister and the people in the north and their reality.”

Critics claim Netanyahu delivered a coup de grâce when he “rejected a request by members of the security cabinet to vote on the ceasefire decision in Lebanon,” according to the Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth.

On April 15, before the ceasefire in Lebanon, Netanyahu asserted that Israel was not obligated to adhere to Trump’s ceasefire agreement with Iran. Consequently, the Israeli military continued its attacks on Lebanon, despite the original agreement explicitly including Lebanon in the ceasefire.

Roaring Lion: 90% of Israelis Support Illegal Attack on Iran

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran is viewed negatively by settlers in northern Israel, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute. In regard to Israel’s Operation Roaring Lion, concurrent with Trump’s Operation Epic Fury, the survey showed that “more than 90% gave the IDF a positive performance rating,” although the poll did not investigate Israeli responses to the concerns of international law experts, human rights organizations, and UN officials.

Israeli strikes resulted in significant civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings. On February 28, 2026, a joint US-Israel attack struck a primary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing over 170 people, most of whom were children. Israeli strikes on Iranian oil depots on March 7, 2026, were also flagged for potentially causing long-term health and environmental damage to civilians.

In response to the attacks on Iran, over 100 international law experts signed a letter condemning them as violations of the UN Charter and potentially war crimes. Additionally, UN experts condemned the aggression against Iran and Lebanon, warning of the catastrophic impact on civilians and urging an immediate ceasefire.

Conversely, Iran’s retaliation, including the use of cluster munitions, has been condemned by Amnesty International. Civilian deaths in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv, Yehud, and Bat Yam have come under investigation. A missile that struck Beit Shemesh that killed nine civilians is being investigated as a war crime.

Strait of Hormuz Open to Commercial Traffic

Following the ceasefire agreement, Israel Defense Minister Katz said the ongoing campaign against Hezbollah is far from over. According to Katz, the IDF has achieved several significant victories. However, certain areas in southern Lebanon have not yet been fully cleared. Weapons and combatants may still be present in these zones, and their removal is deemed crucial, he said.

According to the Lebanese army, there had been “a number of violations of the agreement, with several Israeli attacks recorded, in addition to intermittent shelling targeting a number of villages.” French President Emmanuel Macron expressed concern that the ceasefire has been compromised by ongoing military operations, as reported by AFP.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, responded to the tenuous ceasefire by announcing the temporary opening of the Strait of Hormuz. “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon,” Araghchi said, “the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire.”

The price of Brent oil fell below $84 on the announcement and West Texas Intermediate futures, the US benchmark, dropped by 10% on the news of Araghchi’s announcement. Additionally, the Dow rose 640 points, around 1.2%, the S&P 500 gained 0.7%, and the Nasdaq rose 1%. “The stock market is good,” Trump declared, “the oil prices are coming down, and it’s looking very good that we are going to make a deal with Iran.”

However, considering Israel’s history of ceasefire violations, and the response by Hezbollah and Iran, it is entirely possible hostilities will resume and the strait will once again be closed to tanker and carrier traffic, thus dashing hope the war is now winding down and there is a peace deal on the horizon. As noted above, Israel has indicated it will continue military operations at its discretion.

April 17, 2026 Posted by | Economics, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Israel Considers Ceasefire a Betrayal

Iran Opens Strait of Hormuz for Duration of Lebanon Ceasefire

RT | April 17, 2026

Passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is now completely open, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi declared on Friday. He added that the waterway will remain open for the remainder of the ceasefire in Lebanon.

Araghchi’s announcement came shortly after a 10-day truce came into force between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, which has been one of the major obstacles to a peace deal between Iran and the US.

Writing on X, the Iranian minister stated that “in line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire.”

He noted however, that the vessels would be allowed to move along the “coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran,” suggesting that the strait will remain under Tehran’s control.

US President Donald Trump has responded to Araghchi’s announcement on his Truth Social account, appearing to thank Tehran for fully reopening the “strait of Iran.”

The Strait of Hormuz has been shut down ever since the US and Israel launched an unprovoked attack on Iran in late February. The closure has driven up energy prices and rattled the global economy, disrupting one of the world’s most important trade arteries, which handles around 20% of global crude exports.

In the minutes following Araghchi’s announcement, oil prices plummeted by more than 10%, with Crude oil dropping to just over $83 per barrel and Brent coming in at around $88.

April 17, 2026 Posted by | Economics, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on Iran Opens Strait of Hormuz for Duration of Lebanon Ceasefire

Seyed M. Marandi: U.S. Naval Blockade & Ground Invasion of Iran?

Glenn Diesen | April 16, 2026

Seyed Mohammad Marandi explains the Iranian perspective on why the negotiations with the US failed, what to expect from the US naval blockade, and the likely war that will continue. Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran’s Nuclear Negotiation Team.

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Daniel Davis / Deep Dive – April 15, 2026

April 16, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Video, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Comments Off on Seyed M. Marandi: U.S. Naval Blockade & Ground Invasion of Iran?

‘Normalization Talks’: Lebanon No Longer Has A Government

By Robert Inlakesh | Palestine Chronicle | April 15, 2026

The Lebanese state no longer has even the semblance of sovereignty, stooping lower than any previous administration. Immediately after Israel committed one of the most violent civilian massacres in Beirut’s history, the government’s top officials begged to normalize ties with the killers and implement a plan that could drag their country to civil war.

Former Lebanese President, Bachir Gemayel, once sought to achieve a silent agreement with Israel, while many speculated that a full normalization agreement was his end goal. In the end, he only lasted 21 days in office before a fellow Maronite Christian assassinated him with a remotely detonated bomb.

Despite Gemayel clearly maintaining close ties to the Israelis and having been a leader of the fascist Kataeb militia, upon taking office, he adopted a “no vassal” policy to at least make it appear as if he wasn’t working on behalf of Tel Aviv. Conscious of the fact that in 1982 the Israelis were launching a war of aggression against Lebanon and were on their way to slaughtering 20,000 people, he understood the need to try and present the image of independence, not that of a traitor as many were accusing him of being.

Fast forward to 2026, the Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun are openly begging for direct government meetings with Israel. At a time when Israel has murdered over 2,100 people in Lebanon – targeting journalists, hospitals, emergency workers, and countless other civilian targets – the government is entering normalization talks.

While protesters quickly took to the streets, in opposition to the scheduled talks, labeling the government as traitors and stressing the need to reject normalization, the administration attempted to mislead the people into believing that a ceasefire was set to be discussed. Then came a bombshell article from Axios News, followed by a series of statements from Israeli officials, confirming the suspicions of the Lebanese population.

Israel has explicitly stated that it will not even discuss a ceasefire, but is entering into talks to reach a “peace deal”, while Axios reported that, during a phone call last Friday, the Lebanese government requested “that the Israelis go back to the understandings of the Nov. 2024 ceasefire and conduct strikes only against imminent threats from Hezbollah.”

This means that the Lebanese government has desperately pleaded for direct talks, without even setting a demand that Israel stop bombing their country first or even sit down to discuss that possibility. The maximum request was that Tel Aviv agree to return to the “ceasefire” predicament prior to the current war, where it committed 15,400 violations and concentrated most of its firepower on the south.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam even summoned the commander of the Lebanese Army, Rudolphe Heikal, during the war, because he was not willing to stand against Hezbollah and implement the US-Israeli demand to disarm the one group protecting the country.

President Aoun gave a speech earlier this month, in which he told the people that he was waiting for Israeli approval so that the State would be able to repair a water pipe in the south of the country, almost as if he was willingly participating in a humiliation ritual.

Last Friday, scenes were filmed as protesters in Beirut stood across from disarmed members of the Lebanese Armed Forces, who were deployed with riot shields to the area. A man screamed at the soldiers, urging them to join the resistance in the south and asking them how they could continue to serve an army that doesn’t even pay their salaries. One of the soldiers even broke down in tears, sobbing uncontrollably as the demonstrator spoke.

Israel has killed dozens of Lebanese security force members and army personnel, yet the government in Beirut refuses to allow them to fire a single bullet back. Instead, they flee any area Israel orders them to, as if they are receiving their commands from Tel Aviv and not their own Capital city.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are waging fierce ground battles to defend the country from invading Israeli soldiers, who are attempting to place south Lebanon under an illegal occupation, returning the situation to the pre-2000 predicament.

Israel Katz, Tel Aviv’s defense minister, openly asserts that the displaced civilians from southern Lebanon will not be allowed to return and that the land will be seized by the Israeli military. Meanwhile, the Israeli government demands that Lebanon order the violent disarmament of Hezbollah, a move that would lead to certain civil war.

Not even a week after Israel launched over 100 attacks in only 10 minutes, killing around 300 people and demolishing entire high-rise buildings in the Lebanese Capital, Nawaf Salam and Joseph Aoun are seeking normalization. A move that breaks from the Lebanese government’s long-held position of requiring a Palestinian State prior to engaging in such negotiations.

Although the Lebanese government has a long history of abandoning the people of south Lebanon, pretending as if a whole segment of their country doesn’t even belong to them, this is perhaps the most shameful chapter yet.

Neither the President nor the Prime Minister was actually directly elected by the Lebanese people. Instead, they seized their positions with US backing, riding on the political predicament that Israel’s war against the country in 2024 had created to obtain power. Now they take a position that not only breaks from the Arab Peace Initiative, but they also seek to talk “peace” with an Israeli government that won’t even consider pausing dropping bombs on their country.

All of this begs the question: What legitimacy does such an administration have with its people? And if little to none, then how is it even considered a Lebanese government? The behavior of its officials appears more in line with that of the Lahad Army than of a Lebanese national administration.

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine.

April 15, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Comments Off on ‘Normalization Talks’: Lebanon No Longer Has A Government

There are No Ceasefires with Israel, Only Opportunities for Later Attacks

By Robert Inlakesh | Palestine Chronicle | April 12, 2026

“The war is not over,” stated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, less than twenty-four hours after a two-week cessation of hostilities with Iran was declared by the US. A clear sign of what is to come, from an emboldened Israeli leadership that has failed to achieve their goals of “total victory” in a “seven-front war” that has been ongoing since October of 2023.

With all the talk about ceasefire agreements to end regional hostilities in the Arab and English media, the Israeli Hebrew media is looking at things quite differently. Instead of an end to a war that the majority of the international community has worked to close, Tel Aviv eyes the next escalation.

In Lebanon, if a ceasefire is reached, the Israeli government will seek to do so in a way that inflicts a major political blow against Hezbollah, after having failed to achieve actual military accomplishments. Almost immediately following US President Donald Trump’s Truth Social post declaring a two-week ceasefire, Israel jumped to use the opportunity it had gained through the ceasefire in order to focus all of its airpower on Lebanon.

The results were truly devastating; around 300 Lebanese civilians were murdered in a series of strikes that lasted only ten minutes, which followed mass strikes across the country, including the targeting of an ambulance. After this, a series of other attacks took place, including a targeted strike which killed 19 Lebanese in Nabatieh, including at least 12 Security Force members.

Meanwhile, the US picked Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun, who have publicly begged their way to direct negotiations with Israel, while their civilians suffer through successive massacres. The way this is all being orchestrated was laid out well by a presenter on Israel’s Channel 13 News, who openly said that the Israelis are trying to orchestrate civil war inside Lebanon, using the government to order a crackdown on Hezbollah that will trigger it.

There are also Lebanese Forces militiamen who are suspected of helping drag the nation into such a bloody conflict.

Just as on November 27, 2024, when the Lebanon ceasefire was declared, the Israelis don’t see it as an agreement designed to stop aggression mutually. Over the course of 15 months, the Israelis committed 15,400 violations of the Lebanon ceasefire, setting a world record for the most violated ceasefire in recorded human history. While the US-backed Lebanese government pretended as if a new war had started in March, the Israelis had been waging war on the Lebanese south for 15 months.

In the Gaza Strip, the so-called ceasefire was also an opportunity for the Israelis; they got a break from the fighting while continuing to arm and build up their ISIS-linked militia allies. They violated the ceasefire around 3,000 times, killing over 700 Palestinians, all as a Civi-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), composed of over 20 countries, watched on in silence.

All the way back to 1948, the Israelis used ceasefires and temporary truces in the same exact way. For example, they launched ‘Operation Danny’, in July of 1948, during a temporary pause to secure territory in Lydd and Ramla; then ‘Operation Yoav’ in October 1948, breaking the second truce to launch an attack in the Naqab region; followed by ‘Operation Hiram’, also in October 1948 that was initiated shortly after the second truce ended, flooding their forces into the Galilee.

All of the Gaza ceasefire agreements were violated continuously by the Israelis, each used to Tel Aviv’s advantage. More recently, we can turn to Syria, where the Israelis tore up the 1974 disengagement agreement, using the fall of Bashar al-Assad to occupy even more southern Syrian territory, including seven key water assets. They had a well-oiled plan prepared, sitting there waiting for the day that regime change occurred in Damascus.

There is only one example of where the Israelis were forced to abide by a ceasefire, but were still violating Lebanese sovereignty thousands upon thousands of times throughout, and that was following the 2006 Lebanon war, when a costly equation was imposed by force. Yet, the post-October 7 predicament has destroyed all previous understandings and ushered in an expansionist era for the Israeli government. Both Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leader Yair Lapid have both publicly stated their interest in expanding Israel’s undeclared borders and achieving the “Greater Israel Project”.

Tel Aviv’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has made it clear Israel’s intention to expand its borders up to the Litani River in Lebanon, while Finance Minister Smotrich has openly asserted that the objective of settling the area is a goal.

Israel is currently fighting what it sees as an existential battle to achieve the rebirth of “Eretz Israel”, a regional war that will not end until the project is secured. This means that even if a ceasefire is reached with Iran and Lebanon, it is not actually a ceasefire; it is simply another opportunity to implement new schemes and head back to the drawing board, only to escalate once again in the future.

Both history and the statements coming from the Israeli leadership clearly demonstrate that there is no such thing as a sustainable ceasefire with Israel.

– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine.

April 13, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, War Crimes | , , , , | Comments Off on There are No Ceasefires with Israel, Only Opportunities for Later Attacks

Most Israelis oppose Iran ceasefire, reject talks: Poll

The Cradle | April 13, 2026

A majority of Israelis are against the ceasefire with Iran and anticipate that it will collapse within the coming year, according to a poll carried out by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.

The survey was carried out between 9 and 10 April.

According to the results, 61 percent of Israelis oppose the cessation of hostilities with the Islamic Republic.

Seventy-three percent said Tel Aviv will have to resume the war, while 76 percent said that talks will not achieve Israeli objectives.

Additionally, 69 percent say Israel must continue the indiscriminate strikes on Lebanon and military operations against Hezbollah. Only 23 percent believe Lebanon should be included in the ceasefire.

The new poll also reveals that 62 percent are not convinced that the war against Lebanon will bring security and stability to Israelis.

Just 20 percent of supporters of the ruling coalition said they backed the truce, while only 31 percent of opposition voters expressed the same view.

The poll shows Israelis are unhappier with the results of this war than they were following last year’s 12-day June war against Iran.

Thirty-seven percent were “very satisfied” with the results of the new US-Israeli war on Iran, as opposed to 62 percent who said the same about last year’s war.

Forty-four percent of coalition voters are happy with the “diplomatic achievements” made, compared to 24 percent who are extremely unsatisfied.

Only seven percent of opposition voters said they were very satisfied with the achievements, compared with 69 percent who said they were unsatisfied.

The poll was released following the Islamabad talks between Tehran and Washington, which ended on 12 April with no agreement.

Since the US-Israeli war on Iran was launched in late February, Washington’s bases across the region have been ravaged.

A new Pew Research Center survey, released on 7 April, shows rising negative sentiment among US citizens toward Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the start of the war.

Six in 10 respondents report an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 53 percent last year, while the number of those holding a “very unfavorable” view has also surged, nearly tripling since 2022.

Another recent poll carried out by Reuters and Ipsos showed that more than two-thirds of US citizens are calling for a quick end to Washington’s war against Iran, even if it means ditching its stated goals.

Just two weeks after the war began, a Drop Site News and Zeteo poll revealed that a majority of US citizens believe US President Donald Trump launched the war on Iran to “cover up” the scandalous Jeffrey Epstein files.

The new poll on Israelis’ sentiment toward ending the Iran war echoes some of those conducted during the genocide in Gaza.

In May 2025, a poll conducted by Penn State University found that 82 percent of Israelis supported the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

April 13, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on Most Israelis oppose Iran ceasefire, reject talks: Poll

‘Israel’ attacks civilians to hide its embarrassing military failures & out of pure sadism

By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | April 12, 2026

Proving itself incapable of winning on any front, despite such vast power imbalances, the Zionist regime has developed various collective punishment doctrines over the years. This time, after getting battered by Iranian missiles and failing to achieve any strategic goal, it takes out its frustration on Lebanon and Gaza.

When the US-Israeli alliance launched its war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran on February 28, the Zionist regime’s Premier Benjamin Netanyahu openly gloated about getting what he had wanted for over 40 years. However, the moment he had been pushing for decades to reach failed to render the results the Israeli leader had hoped for.

US President Donald Trump, having initially agreed to Iran’s 10-point plan, before later backtracking, decided to announce a two-week cessation of hostilities with Iran. Within hours, having freed up its Air Force that had been bogged down in Iran attack operations, the Israelis were already targeting civilians across Lebanon, including bombing an ambulance in Tyre, south Lebanon.

Hours after that came the horrifying Beirut massacre, during which the Israelis carried out over 100 airstrikes in 10 minutes, demolishing dozens of civilian buildings without any notice. The result was the mass slaughter of more than 300 people, with an additional 1,200 left injured across the country in less than a day.

This was evidently no accident; the Israeli leadership had been claiming throughout the 15-month Lebanon ceasefire – which they violated over 15,400 times according to UNIFIL – that Hezbollah had been defeated, that it posed no threat to the northern settlements and would easily be dealt with. In early March, the Israeli victory narrative collapsed completely.

There is a reason why 77% of Israelis polled, according to Hebrew media outlet Maariv, say they want a continuation of the war against Lebanon. That reason is that they understand well that Hezbollah is still a massive threat to them, and the occupation army they support has failed at deterring the Lebanese Party.

Over two years of genocide in the Gaza Strip, Hamas is still there, and none of the dozen Palestinian Resistance groups have been defeated, despite them taking blows. In Lebanon, the Zionist regime killed most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership, yet failed to deal any decisive blow to the organization. The largest blow that was dealt to Hezbollah was the way the 2024 assault on Lebanon reshaped the Lebanese government.

In Iran, twice, the Israeli-US alliance has assassinated a large number of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s leadership figures, but has failed to deliver any defeat to it. All of the statistics about the percentages of missiles and launchers that the Israelis claim to have destroyed are simply plucked out of thin air.

While the leadership in Tel Aviv may allege that they have come out of every confrontation with some kind of total victory, they also admit that the “war is not over”. This is an admission of failure, because if each war were a victory for them, they wouldn’t require another. The only thing that saves them each time is that they are granted ceasefires, which the Zionists use as a period in which they create new plots to attack once again. If the wars were all-out and total, they would eventually be drained and forced to submit.

So, as each lull in the fighting occurs – what some call “ceasefires” – the Israelis end the round with more treachery. This time around, as soon as the US announced that a two-week temporary ceasefire had been reached, Tel Aviv used the opportunity to concentrate its entire air force on striking civilian targets as a calibrated tactic.

The Gaza genocide was not done simply out of a desire to shed blood as a revenge blow, although this clearly played into it; the genocide was a message to the Palestinian people and the rest of the region. It was a desperate attempt to salvage the so-called “deterrence capacity” image that the Zionist regime had spent so long building up.

The Israelis did not want to directly go after the Palestinian resistance in Gaza because they knew that it would be costly, so they hid in their tanks and armored vehicles, entering areas with the intent of flattening infrastructure and knocking out major hospitals as the end goal of each operation.

In Lebanon, their tactics are very similar, but are complicated by the fact that Hezbollah is a far stronger military force to deal with. We immediately saw that Tel Aviv displaced a million Lebanese, bombed all the bridges allowing for civilian passage to the south of Lebanon, and then flattened entire towns and neighborhoods.

The mass slaughter of civilians in Beirut was also part of that strategy. The civilian populations of Gaza and Lebanon become a punching bag, with the end goal being the demoralization of the people, attempting to turn them against the resistance groups they overwhelmingly support.

April 12, 2026 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , , | Comments Off on ‘Israel’ attacks civilians to hide its embarrassing military failures & out of pure sadism

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