Articles

Thirty-nine days into the war, the question that now hangs over the Middle East is no longer whether the conflict will reshape Iran. It already has. The real question is whether we are approaching the moment when the war moves from its destructive phase into its political phase — the moment when wars historically reach their climax and the foundations of the post-war order begin to emerge. Every war follows a brutal but recognizable trajectory. First comes shock. Then escalation. Then devastation. And finally — when the human, economic, and political costs become unbearable — the search for a new equilibrium begins.

It was while walking the streets of my neighborhood that I stumbled upon one of the most unusual sights: an accordionist playing for no one and for everyone. To offer a moment of happiness in a country seemingly enamored with violence. He seeks neither money nor attention. He plays to share the magic of music with those who can still feel it. Thomas Kassis. That's his name. The one his adoptive parents gave him after he was moved from one foster home to another, those who finally chose to keep him. His biological parents? He doesn't know them. Thomas also works in construction, a sector hard hit by the current situation. But it is with his accordion that he lives a true love story. A passionate love story that began to blossom in 2017.

His name was Amirhossein Hatami; he was a musician, a talented guitarist, according to his relatives; he was 18 years old; he was hanged in the courtyard of Ghezel Hesar prison in the suburbs of Tehran… He had been accused of “enmity against God”... Mohammed Amin Beighari, 19, was allowed last week by his jailers to contact his father by phone to inform him (the height of sadism and cruelty on the part of the regime…) that he would be hanged the next morning; the execution took place as planned. His “crime”: having participated in the latest demonstrations against the mullahs’ regime… His name was Saleh Mohammadi, a professional wrestler; he had participated in wrestling competitions under the banner of Iran; he was 19 years old; he was hanged a few days ago for opposing the current dictatorship…

The resolution on the partition of Palestine, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 29 November 1947 and known as Resolution 181, brought the State of Israel into existence over a territory of fifteen thousand square kilometres, whose population did not then exceed half a million settlers. The same document called for the creation of an Arab state on eleven thousand square kilometres, at a time when the Palestinian people numbered one million four hundred thousand inhabitants. The resolution further provided for the placing of Jerusalem and Bethlehem under international trusteeship. The Arab and Palestinian rejection of this partition triggered the outbreak of the war over Palestine, with consequences that proved catastrophic: Israel was thus able to occupy 78% of the land and compel some seven hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants to leave.

US President Donald Trump increased pressure on Tehran by threatening Iran with total destruction. "The entire country could be destroyed in a single night, and that night could well be tomorrow (Tuesday)", the American president said during a press conference. Trump had set a Tuesday evening ultimatum before bombing energy infrastructure in Iran. He stated that he was not "worried" about the risk of committing war crimes when a journalist questioned him about his threat to destroy power plants. « The "war crime" would be to let Iran acquire nuclear weapons », the president retorted, referring to the mullahs' regime's repression of demonstrations: "They kill protesters. They are animals".

Lebanon has now been left to its fate, in the absence of a unified position from the country’s senior officials — the President of the Republic, the President of Parliament, and the President of the Council of Ministers — both in the search for a way out and in the face of Israel’s determination to establish a buffer zone in the south. The Israeli threat, however, extends well beyond the creation of this buffer zone; it is becoming increasingly clear that the Hebrew state is bent on destroying Lebanese villages along what is considered the border between the two countries, lines that have never been officially demarcated.