Articles

And here we go again. Tensions are rising in the region with a new wave of strikes on Iran, announced for this evening by U.S. President Donald Trump, who also threatened to seize control of the strategic island of Kharg — the linchpin of Iran's oil economy. However, in yet another reversal, Trump later posted on his Truth Social platform that he had decided to call off the strikes he had been threatening against Iran, asserting that "discussions with the Islamic Republic have been seen and approved by Iran's highest authorities." And, as is often the case, the news was quickly denied by Iran's Fars news agency. But according to Axios , senior Iranian officials confirmed that a "framework agreement" had been reached, but that they were "awaiting the approval of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei."

This series of articles aims to provide a clearer understanding of the current situation in light of the past, free from passionate, ideological, or romanticized narratives that miss the realities on the ground, leaving readers to draw their own conclusions. The previous eight installments offered a reexamination of events surrounding Hezbollah's rise to power since the Taif Agreement, through the Israeli army's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, the establishment of a Hezbollah-controlled zone in the South, and the 2006 war. This article picks up where that conflict left off. The Battle of Wadi Al Houjeyr, also known as the Battle of Wadi Slouqi, took place in the central sector of the Lebanese-Israeli border between August 11 and 13, 2006. It was one of the costliest engagements for the Israeli army. The Israeli forces' objective was to cross the Slouqi valley heading northward to reach the Litani River before the anticipated ceasefire came into effect.

When I recalled the substance of George Orwell's 1984 and Albert Camus's The Stranger , I sensed a certain thread connecting their respective descriptions of the instrument of control — or rather the general framework of domination — and what has been unfolding in Lebanon, particularly in recent years, since power consolidated itself in Hezbollah's hands and under its command. There is a strange convergence between the worlds of Orwell and Camus, despite their apparent differences: the world of external oppression in Orwell, and the world of absurdity and existential detachment in Camus. In Orwell, the individual is subject to absolute external surveillance. Big Brother does not merely monitor behaviour; he attempts to seize control of consciousness itself. The objective is not simply compliance, but the erasure of any possibility of internal dissent. Freedom is threatened from without, and the individual — Winston — seeks to reclaim his own selfhood through rebellion.

Tensions continue to rise in the region but remain, for now, under control. It seems as though Tehran and Washington — which are continuing to exchange messages through Pakistani mediators — have opted for a new tactic: diplomacy under fire. It is through this lens that the military actions launched by Iran in the region over the past forty-eight hours are being viewed today. Strangled by the maritime blockade Washington has imposed on its ports, the Islamic Republic — which had until now been playing for time — has no option left but the military one to ease the pressure bearing down on it from two directions. The first concerns the direct Lebanese-Israeli negotiations toward a peace agreement. If concluded, such a deal would inevitably end Iran's grip on Lebanon through Hezbollah, at a time when Tehran is pushing to have the Hezbollah file placed on the agenda of any potential talks with Washington, in order to dictate its own terms. The second relates to its own negotiations with the United States over a lasting ceasefire.

It is once again the familiar stop-start pattern of diplomacy in the Iran conflict. After recent statements by American officials suggesting – yet again – the imminent prospect of a “deal” with the Islamic Republic, fresh storm clouds gathered on Tuesday evening. Late in the evening, President Donald Trump said he had received a report from U.S. military command indicating that Iranian fire had brought down an American Apache helicopter on Monday night in the Strait of Hormuz, while it was conducting a patrol in the area. The pilot and co-pilot were rescued unharmed by U.S. military teams after a two-hour search operation.

It is astonishing, puzzling, disconcerting – even strange and paradoxical – that one still encounters today the same reductive, partisan narratives, published by an agenda-driven press and amplified across social media, at a time when the country is facing critical developments both domestically and internationally, and when its fate has been sorely tested for decades. Regrettably, this is hardly a first. We are witnessing media manipulation aimed at creating a diversion and deflecting attention from the pressing issues of the day – chief among them a merciless war that is dragging the country towards total destruction and plunging it into an unprecedented socioeconomic and financial abyss.