Lebanon

Posted by: John Phoenix The whole of progressive humanity is mourning the death of Hassan Nasrallah, a brilliant and intrepid fighter against imperialism, who led the organisation of which he was General Secretary – Hezbollah – as it stood indomitable and often alone in the Arab world in mounting armed resistance to Israel, the racist colonial state imposed and maintained by Western imperialism on the Middle East. A deeply religious Shia Muslim, Nasrallah first came into politics to struggle against the marginalisation of the Shia community in Lebanon. In the Lebanese civil war between Christian Maronites and Muslims, he joined and fought with Amal (the Movement of the Deprived) that had been founded in 1974 by his mentor Sadr. In 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon with a view t...

Posted by: John Phoenix Remnants found of a cluster munition show a white nylon ribbon, used to stabilize and spin submunitions. (The Guardian) Exclusive: Images are the first indication that Israel has used cluster munitions in nearly 20 years By William Christou, Reposted from The Guardian, November 19, 2025 Israel used widely banned cluster munitions in its recent 13-month war in Lebanon, photos of munition remnants in south Lebanon seen by the Guardian suggest. The images, which have been examined by six different arms experts, appear to show the remnants of two different types of Israeli cluster munitions found in three different locations: south of the Litani River in the forested valleys of Wadi Zibqin, Wadi Barghouz and Wadi Deir Siryan. Th...

Posted by: John Phoenix Israeli officials say attacks done in coordination with the US by Jason Ditz  Israel’s long-threatened escalation of their attacks on Lebanon seems to have begun in earnest on Thursday, with massive numbers of strikes reported against several towns and villages in the country’s south. The IDF issued evacuation warnings for at least five sites in southern Lebanon, and is claiming, as they so often do, that everything they are attacking is Hezbollah infrastructure. Early indications are that a substantial number of civilian casualties have occurred. The most recent toll has one confirmed killed and nine wounded, though those tolls are expected to rise. This comes amid an Israeli security cabinet meeting, at ...

Posted by: John Phoenix How a 1983 bombing exposed the perils of empire... 42 years ago yesterday, on October 23, 1983, the early morning quiet at Beirut International Airport shattered when a Mercedes truck carrying 12,000 pounds of TNT crashed through flimsy barriers and detonated inside a U.S. Marine Corps barracks. The explosion killed 241 American service members, including 220 Marines, 18 sailors, and three soldiers, making it the deadliest single day for the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima in World War II. Almost simultaneously, another suicide bomber struck French forces two miles away, leaving 58 paratroopers dead. The twin attacks temporarily altered American perceptions about Middle Eastern intervention, though the lessons learned that day have proven frustratingly imp...