In practice, however, declarations did not reflect reality. Hezbollah adopted a low profile, not as an act of surrender, but as a strategic pause intended to preserve its remaining assets and rebuild, and also to facilitate the government’s efforts to secure reconstruction funds for southern Lebanon.

In fairness, it would have taken a genius on the level of Einstein to see through that.

The underlying problem remains: Hezbollah’s disarmament will not result from persuasion or internal Lebanese pressure. As in the case of Iran, the issue is not the terms of negotiation, but the continued existence of a heavily armed militia operating outside state control. Hezbollah will not voluntarily relinquish its weapons. What is needed is a decisive military campaign that will lead to its defeat.

The opportunity missed in November 2024 should not be missed again.

I think the majority of Lebanese don’t want the regime of Iran influencing their country anymore. They’d like Hezbollah (Iran proxy) to go, too. Perhaps the attack on Iran has emboldened the Lebanese to do a few things to make that more likely to happen.

Words mean things.

IRGC members in Lebanon will be arrested, deported, Lebanese information minister says
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-888963

Does this matter? Seems like a good thing if they can actually do it, but I really have no idea. I’d prefer they just go ahead and deport them to the infernal regions.

By the way, great to hear from you Ben David. Keep posting. We worry.

I will add that, as a devout and dedicated Christian, I understand that NO ONE is “innocent.” It is true that a good many people are uninvolved in political/military combat–but that is not the same thing.

https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2026/03/iran-live-stream-quake-like-loud.html

WW2:
– Took almost a decade. People tracked progress with thumbtacks on maps in the living room, not video clips, memes, and posts.

– No whining reporters asked FDR or Eisenhower “is it done yet?”

– London and Dresden are just the best-remembered icons of widespread civilian suffering.
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A founding meme of this blog is the difficulty of changing one’s mind.
Several generations of Americans – including many of us – had our attitudes to war shaped as much by quisling media rescripting of Vietnam as by WW2 or Korea – pacifist attitudes mirrored and amplified in the academic and media echo chambers we grew up with.

I only really cleared out that intellectual junk when I moved to Israel – when I met and recognized an existential threat, and started engaging bien pensant Israelis who insisted on Panglossian progressive fantasy (in the face of their own combat experiences!).

It’s been a @$%^$% week, folks – an incredibly successful, surgically executed week.

Kindly buck up – and buckle up.

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Regarding the Kurds – bringing them in is another example of this administration’s 3D chess. It is definitely in America’s interest to keep Erdogan off balance.