Nasrallah: ‘No Lebanon-Gaza Separation’

CEOSSFIREARABIA – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his military establishment led by Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi are determined to separate the Lebanese and the Gaza fronts. 

To do that the Israelis are bombing Lebanon in all sorts of directions  right, left and center, in the south of the country, its east and of course, southern Beirut – considered the prime Hezbollah stronghold – as hard as they can to achieve their illusive objectives which are nowhere near to being realized.

Israeli air raids, bombings, killing of civilians and murder of claimed Hezbollah fighters have increased in the last 48 hours with death knocking on the door of the Lebanese. Last Monday alone Israeli warplanes killed 274 people and injured 1024 in 1100 air raids all over Lebanon with the number of those killed rising daily.

But in contrast, Hezbollah attacks – through missiles and drones – have been tough on northern Israel including its cities like Haifa, Tel Aviv, in the Galilee, Safad, Jewish colonies/settlements  and military bases have continued non-stop where reports of fires, deaths and hundreds of thousands hiding in underground shelters.

Secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah has been very clear in his approach. In this escalation which started last week through the so-called pager and wireless massacre when Israeli killed around 3000 people in the southern neighborhood of Beirut, Hezbollah quickly regrouped and started firing on the north and center of Israel in unexpected moves.

He said there will be no separation between the Lebanese and Gaza fronts until the Israeli military machine stops bombing Gaza once-and-for-all. Hezbollah and Gaza has long become an unparalleled equation, he maintains. The war must stop in Gaza so that Fadi I, Fadi II and more recently Fadi III as well as more missiles stop landing on the different and sensitive areas of Israel.

However he tried to be reasonable saying that if a settlement is reached within the Palestinian groups and be acceptable to them his party would stop firing on Israel. Nasarallah couldn’t be more clearer than that.

Meanwhile the ‘trading over the border escalation’ between Hezbollah and the Israeli warplanes continues with missile swaps and bombs continuing. Despite the war utterings from certain quarters, Israel doesn’t want a northern front as their leaders keep saying and is not expected to start a ground troop offensive into southern Lebanon because of what is being termed as their ‘debilitating’ ability and exhaustion of their soldiers after their nearly 12 months of fighting in Gaza. 

But in this respect too, Nasrallah has been clear too saying if the Israeli army wants to enter south Lebanon, Hezbollah would be ready for them, going all the way of inviting them to invade and see the real force of the resistance in Lebanon that had been fighting Israel, albeit on a ‘low level’ since Israel started its war and onslaught on the Gaza Strip soon after 7 October, 2023. 

All indications suggest Israeli will not be able to separate this front from the Gaza one. Though Israeli planes are in a state of bombing momentum believing if they bomb certain regions of Lebanon fiercely enough, and aim to kill their top caders by bombing south Beirut, Hezbollah will eventually give up by themselves and wrap up the war.

But the situation is particularly fluid, neither side is budging from their positions. With Hezbollah termed to be recruiting 40,000 fighters from Iraq, Syria and Yemen, it insists that this front is their to support Gaza while Netanyahu refuses to accept a ceasefire deal on the enclave.

Both parties are in “military deadlock”, while a third party, the Biden administration, is walking in the middle. Its officials right from US president Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other lowley staff stated many times they want a deal on Gaza, and don’t want the war to spread to the region, to Lebanon, possibly Iraq, Syria and even Yemen which have been up till now low key operators.

In this war first on Gaza, and now developing into Lebanon, the US has been a constant behind-the-scene player, politicking in Lebanon through its special envoy and Qatar and Egypt acting as mediators in the past months to work a ceasefire that didn’t work mainly through Israeli intransigence, Washington must take much of the blame.  

This is because Washington has been a constant supplier of weapons to the Israelis in this war right after 7 October, 2023 through an active air and sea bridge to Tel Aviv. It has, till this day, been providing Israeli with technical advice on the conduct of the war with at least 2000 US military personell and many would argue, the United States has not been forceful enough with Netanyahu who worked to disrupt the talks and make sure the war on Gaza continues.

With the war switching to the Lebanese-Israeli border, it seems that the US would continue to supply Israel with weapons, increase its intransigence even further, keep up the Hamas-Hezbollah ante up and suck the regional into an even bigger regional war.

CrossFireArabia

CrossFireArabia

Dr. Marwan Asmar holds a PhD from Leeds University and is a freelance writer specializing on the Middle East. He has worked as a journalist since the early 1990s in Jordan and the Gulf countries, and been widely published, including at Albawaba, Gulf News, Al Ghad, World Press Review and others.

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Trump, Iran And The ‘Nuclear Fight’

Experts say the Middle East region is poised on an impending war with the top protagonists being the USA, Israel and Iran.  They stand on a military pedestal of violent conflict where Armageddon has become the new catchphrase.

The man at the center of it all is US president Donald Trump who has been elected on a so-called global “peace” ticket but is fueling the worldwide escalation with his rhetoric.

He is telling Iran, nay warning it, to either hitch out and agree to a new accord on the country’s nuclear file or face the American wrath where its Persian cities and nuclear facilities would be wildly attacked in a first-time development that is turning international relations upside down.

And so a war of words began between Tehran and Washington since Trump sent a stern letter to Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, telling him to submit to a new nuclear agreement to stall his country’s nuclear facilities or face extensive US bombing. 

This was a callous, stark warning. The international system has never, till now, faced such discursive diplomatic parlance, even at the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Iranian leadership saw Trump’s verbiage as an outright threat and refused to submit, even telling US president that Iran will not be bullied and he can to “go to hell”, a comment made by Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian. He was speaking for the Ayatollah and the top leadership in the country.

Since then however, and in spite of the occasional utterings, recently made by Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Iraghchi that Tehran would respond quickly and heavily to any outside attack, both sides have been involved in a “jostling affair” issuing different and irk statements short of the war-mongering tirade Trump started.

Military brink

Today, and on the face of it, both sides appear to want to pull back from the military brink. The Iranians are now saying they would be prepared to negotiate but only indirectly through Oman, the country that has traditionally served as a consummate link between Washington and Tehran.

Whilst the Trump administration may be contemplating such a fact, although it’s on record for stating it would prefer direct face-to-face negotiations involving fully-fledged American and Iranian expert teams in the field of nuclear weapons and proliferation, Washington has not closed the doors to such an offer from Tehran and it is still considering it which means it might be softening its position.

But there is another snag to this. Iranian officials have stated they want confidence-building measures from the Trump administration and don’t believe in negotiations under threat but this appears to be what is happening today.

As the diplomatic chit chat continues, Washington is sending military reinforcements with jet fighters, mass bombs and missiles to the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and the Red Sea as part of their stepped-up fight against the Houthis and potentially against Iran, both of whom are against the Israeli military onslaught on the Gaza Strip which is being financed by the USA.

Thus, what is happening now is that both sides are involved in sending out mixed signals despite the military escalation and war of words with Trump in what is becoming his customary U-turns. He is now saying that he doesn’t want a fight with Iran and is prepared for negotiations. 

But the ball is turning so to speak. For one thing Israel has long sought deadly strikes on Iranian cities and nuclear facilities and for it, today this is a “golden opportunity” being flanked and supported by US warships in the area.

Israel sees such a series of strikes as more urgent than before because after 2018 when Trump got the USA out of the nuclear deal, Iran started once again to boost its uranium enrichment program and many argue it’s very near to achieving a nuclear bomb and capability.

But that may be over-stating the fact, because Iran has always stated its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and its officials have maintained an official dialogue with the countries it originally made a deal with in 2015 officially named as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

So the current escalation may be tinged with diplomatic talk for although Trump maybe rash in what he says, there is usually a back up plan up his sleeve of not reaching beyond the military brink with brinkmanship being played at the highest levels.

This comment is written by Dr Marwan Asmar, chief editor of the crossfirearabia.com website.

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Gaza Cracks Trump’s Image as ‘Peacemaker’

By Giorgio Cafiero

The Gaza ceasefire had been extremely fragile ever since its implementation on Jan. 19. Many analysts doubted that phase two would begin, and the main question was about when, not if, the ceasefire would fall apart. It came as no surprise when Israel completely ended the ceasefire on March 18 and resumed its genocidal war on Gaza, killing roughly 600 [1] Palestinians within the first four days after the truce collapsed.

It is beyond disturbing to think about what will come next for the 2.2 million people in Gaza, especially given that Israeli authorities imposed [2] a blockade on all humanitarian aid on March 2. While briefing the UN Security Council on the day Israel resumed its war, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said [3] “food is rotting and medicines are expiring.” The Israelis quickly undid all humanitarian progress achieved by international actors during the 42-day ceasefire. “Essential survival resources needed are now being rationed,” warned [4] Fletcher.

For all the misleading and outright inaccurate reporting in the Western media, it is clear that Hamas wanted phase two to begin, which was supposed to take place on March 1. However, Israel wanted phase one extended and was against moving into phase two. Had the second phase begun, Hamas would have handed over all the remaining Israeli captives. Now, amid this intense warfare, Hamas claims it is considering US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff’s “Bridge Proposal,” which aims to extend the collapsed ceasefire into next month, beyond Ramadan and Passover, to permit negotiations for a permanent ceasefire to end this war.

It is not difficult to understand why this genocide resumed on March 18. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies in the government were crystal clear that they did not support the ceasefire and wanted Israeli military operations against Gaza to resume. It was only pressure from the incoming Donald Trump administration during the final days of Joe Biden’s presidency that led Tel Aviv to agree to the tenuous ceasefire. Now that the Trump administration removed that pressure on Israel and the American president went all-out with his rhetoric about “hell” in Gaza, Netanyahu received the green light from the White House to continue the genocide.


Trump’s desires and reality

What US President Donald Trump realistically sought to achieve with his obscene rhetoric about a “clean out” [6] of Gaza and outlandish talk of transforming the war-ravaged enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East” [7] is a question for another article. Nonetheless, it is easy to conclude that such language emboldened the most right-wing and aggressive Israeli elements, including those in the government. These extremists have spent decades fantasizing about a second Nakba and establishing a Palestinian state outside Palestine.

Put simply, for Netanyahu and those around him to champion this plan of mass ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of millions of Palestinians into Egypt, Jordan, and perhaps also some Gulf Arab countries, continuing the war on Gaza is a necessary part of this process. After all, human history has shown that people don’t volunteer to leave their ancestral homeland but typically only do as a result of massive bloodshed.

The Israeli leadership understands this about the Palestinians and their quest to remain on their land. So much was on display with the leaflets [8] that Israel’s military recently dropped on Gaza, which threatened to make Trump’s plan for a “clean out” of Gaza the new reality.

To be sure, Israel’s domestic politics and Netanyahu’s own legal situation were relevant factors too. By restarting the war on Gaza, Netanyahu was able to secure stability within his own coalition. Now, not only is there no reason for him to fear more cabinet members quitting the coalition, but former Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir who left in January because of the ceasefire has returned [9] due to the genocide’s resumption.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu’s testimony in his corruption trial, set for the day that the war on Gaza recommenced, was postponed, [10] highlighting how “security developments” [11] shield him from legal consequences for his alleged [12] breach of trust, bribery, and fraud.

A key question is, where does this all leave Trump? After all, he campaigned on being a “peacemaker” president. While delivering his inaugural address just over two months ago, Trump declared, [13] “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end — and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”

At this point, Trump might find himself trapped in Gaza, preventing him from reducing the US military footprint in the Middle East. Trump is escalating conflicts in the region—from Gaza to Yemen and possibly soon Iran—that could keep the US bogged down in this part of the world, which is the opposite of his promises regarding US foreign policy if elected to a second term. It remains to be seen how Trump’s support for Israel’s actions in Gaza and his escalation in Yemen—closely tied to Palestine—will impact his standing among his MAGA base.

The author is the CEO of Gulf States Analytics

[1] https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/22/israel-orders-idf-troops-to-advance-deeper-into-gaza-as-renewed-operation-expands

[2] https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/02/middleeast/israel-halts-gaza-humanitarian-aid-intl-hnk/index.html

[3, 4] https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/03/1161246

[5] https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-intensifying-gaza-strikes-press-hamas-into-freeing-hostages-defence-2025-03-21/

[6] https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/27/middleeast/trump-clean-out-gaza-middle-east-intl/index.html

[7] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trumps-gaza-israel-plans-riviera-rcna190748

[8] https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-drops-leaflets-saying-no-one-will-care-if-gazans-vanish

[9] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/18/israels-ben-gvir-to-rejoin-netanyahus-government

[10,11,12] https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/report-netanyahus-testimony-corruption-trial-postponed-due-gaza-war

[13] https://www.whitehouse.gov/remarks/2025/01/the-inaugural-address/

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