Middle East Politics
By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The US administration sent an official threat to the Iraqi government requesting it to prevent all insurgency attacks against its forces, especially against the US embassy in Baghdad. Otherwise, the US threatens dire consequences, including the use of military power, economic sanctions and political boycott against Iraq. According to officials in […]
Read More The USA threatens Iraq: stop the attacks, or else …By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai There has been a lot of talk about a Russian-Iranian conflict of interest in Syria and the differences of priorities, goals, and about the deployment of the Iranian forces in different Syrian provinces, in particular in the south of Syria bordering the Israeli occupied Golan Heights. In reality, there are organised […]
Read More Russia and Iran in Syria; Iran prepares a move on the Israeli bordersBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai A US counterterrorism official has claimed that Hezbollah “is stocking ammonium nitrate in France, Italy, Greece, Spain and Switzerland”. The French Foreign Ministry responded that these allegations were untrue. Consequently, it dealt a direct blow to the American administration, which is working in Brussels to place Hezbollah with its military […]
Read More Obstacles to French success in Lebanon: Saudi Arabia and the USWritten by Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Russia is showing its willingness to consolidate its role as a superpower and its readiness to challenge the United States of America. Moscow will not return to the lethargy that began after Perestroika and lasted for two long decades (from 1991 until 2011). Its decision to wake up and […]
Read More Russia breaks the US “Caesar Act” and Syria refuses the Lebanese & Iraqi modelsWritten by Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai From Lebanon, French President Emmanuel Macron has transmitted messages in multiple directions. It is clear that America did not object to his attempt to intervene directly. Lebanon is a very complex country and that France does not have the necessary base to bring about the changes it desires. But […]
Read More What does France want from Lebanon and Hezbollah, and will it achieve its goals? 3/3Written by Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai It would be inaccurate to say that the US has given the green light to French President Emmanuel Macron to carry his initiative to Lebanon. In fact, US policy does not coincide with the French goals in all details. In fact, following each of the two French visits an […]
Read More What does France want from Lebanon and Hezbollah, and will it achieve its goals? (2/3)Written by Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai On the first day of September, French President Emmanuel Macron came to Lebanon carrying several explicit and implicit messages to diffuse in various directions. The French President said that Lebanon should establish a government as soon as possible in order to benefit from international financial support. As for the […]
Read More What does France want from Lebanon and Hezbollah, and will it achieve its goals? (1/3)By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Since the victory of the “Islamic Revolution” in Iran in 1979, the slogan “Neither East nor West but an Islamic Republic” has been a commonplace. This slogan represented the desire of the late Imam Khomeini, who aimed to liberate Iran from foreign control and from the superpowers that had ruled […]
Read More Iran and China are building new empires on the failure of Trump’s policyBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Iraq is entering a new and dangerous phase. When Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhemi visited Washington, President Donald Trump declared that US forces deployed in Iraq would not leave for three years. The Prime Minister finds himself pinned between multiple conflicts, internal, regional and international. No statesman, no matter how experienced, […]
Read More Can Al-Kadhemi walk the fine line between “domestic mines” and the Iran-US conflict on his soil?By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The US had threatened to withdraw its annual financial support of $135 million (27% of the $500 million annual costs) for the 10,000 UNIFIL men deployed in Lebanon unless its mandate was strengthened. The US, at the request of Israel, asked to see the UNIFIL forces disarm Hezbollah and evacuate arms […]
Read More No changes in the UNIFIL mandate and the attempt to destroy the Lebanese state has failedBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi is preparing to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House, about issues that are burdening Iraq. The country is struggling with a stifling economic crisis, the Coronavirus pandemic, the US military presence that is no longer desirable, the “unmanageable balance” between Iran and […]
Read More USA to Iraq: We will withdraw but without being humiliatedHow Israel views the Beirut explosion and Hezbollah’s involvement By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai “Hezbollah controls the Harbour of Beirut and is knowledgeable of everything happening in it. It uses its influence to smuggle its shipments through and prefers to keep these shipments at the harbour to prevent Israel from bombing them.” “Hezbollah controls Lebanon […]
Read More How Israel views the Beirut explosion and Hezbollah’s involvementBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Following the end of the 1975 civil war in Lebanon, the Taef agreement (one of the worse agreements on record) was signed between the belligerents. It delivered the country into the hands of the civil warlords who today rule Lebanon along with their children. Since then they have been frenetically […]
Read More Is the Partition of Lebanon now on the table?By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai On Tuesday 4thof August, an explosion at the Lebanese harbour in the heart of the capital Beirut caused devastating human casualties and material destruction. Over 170 people died instantly, 80 are still missing under the rubble, and over 5000 were wounded. More than 300,000 homes were destroyed and many more […]
Read More The Beirut Explosion: Who is responsible?By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Since Israeli jets killed a Hezbollah operative in Damascus, the Israeli army is in a state of full alert, amassing tanks and elite forces on the borders to prevent Hezbollah from crossing into Israeli settlers’ areas. Israel is sending messages in all directions, expressing its readiness for war and for hitting […]
Read More Israel doesn’t want a war with Hezbollah and Lebanon.By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai The last time that the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, visited Israel was shortly before the assassination of Major General Qassim Soleimani at Baghdad Airport. General Milley re-visited Israel a few days ago and met with Defence Minister Benny Gantz, the chief of staff Aviv Kochavi, and […]
Read More US-Israel meeting: When is the Hezbollah response expected?By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai In 2005 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began “looking East” to consolidate Iran’s relationship with Russia and China rather than with Europe and the US. He shared the belief of the Rahbar, Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, that the West could not be trusted. In 2013, when Sheikh Hassan Rouhani came to power, […]
Read More Iran-Russia-China: a strategic alliance is born while the US loses ground and alliesBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai “I warn Hezbollah: don’t disturb the calm on the borders with Lebanon”, said the Israeli spy Chief Yossi Cohen at a high-tension moment between Israel and Hezbollah. This statement was provoked by the Israeli violation of Syrian sovereignty and its bombing of Damascus airport, where Hezbollah announced that one of […]
Read More How Hezbollah will hit Israel: Is general war an option?By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Hezbollah is the source of all troubles currently besetting the US Empire in the region; it is spoiling most of Washington and Tel Aviv’s strategies and plans for Lebanon and the Middle East. Even amid the harshest economic crisis hitting Lebanon, Hezbollah is still opposing US efforts to bring Lebanon to its […]
Read More Hezbollah, the source of all troubles in Lebanon and the Middle East.By Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Hastily and under the watchful eye of Israeli and US drones, Hezbollah is storing hundreds of tons of food stock, supplied by Iran, in dozens of improvised warehouses on the Syrian-Lebanese border. This new and unusual step by Hezbollah reflects Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent promise to prevent the starvation […]
Read More When Hezbollah flags up the China and Iran options, the US tremblesBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai An Iranian military delegation led by Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri met in Syria with President Bashar al-Assad and his Defence Minister Major General Ali Ayyoub to strengthen and enhance military, defensive and security cooperation between the two countries and improve Syria’s missile and defensive competences. However, the visit of […]
Read More Iran to Assad: Don’t worry about the “Caesar Act” when you have Israel on your bordersBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Iran has postponed announcement of those it has concluded were responsible for the sabotage at the Natanz nuclear centrifuge facility and probably other sites. However, high ranking personnel in Tehran say that “investigations have concluded and the latest explosions may well have been related; indications are that Israel, plus another Middle […]
Read More Iran prepares retaliation for Israeli acts of sabotageBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah enjoys unparalleled support among Shia in Lebanon and more broadly among the “Axis of the Resistance” he is leading. He is the most famous leader in Lebanon and is highly respected and heeded by both followers and enemies, particularly Israel. However, since the […]
Read More Hezbollah between two fires: its own society and its domestic alliesBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai There is no doubt that, since Ben Gurion, the Zionist ideology adheres to the principle of superior strength, harassing and seizing opportunities to surprise the enemy, exploiting the opponent’s weaknesses and assessing the enemy’s position before striking. But there are many indications that Israel cannot conduct a war on Lebanon, at least […]
Read More No Israeli war on Lebanon before the next US electionsBy Elijah J. Magnier: @ejmalrai It’s looking like a long, hot summer, as tensions increase between Washington and Tehran, US elections approach, and the “maximum pressure” exercised by the US escalates. After Syria, it is Lebanon’s turn. The country’s financial failure has reached the point of no return. The US is trying to attribute the […]
Read More US-Iran confrontation in Lebanon: counter-measures and escalation