Trump’s ceasefire extension means buying time for a surprise strike: Adviser to Iran’s speaker Trump’s ceasefire extension “means nothing”, says Mahdi Mohammadi, adviser to Iran’s parliament speaker. “The losing side cannot dictate terms. The continuation of the siege is no different from bombardment and must be met with a military response,” Mohammadi said in translated remarks in a social media post. “Moreover, Trump’s ceasefire extension is certainly a ploy to buy time for a surprise strike. The time for Iran to take the initiative has come.”

The thing about purposefully cultivating a reputation as a Charlie Kelly-style "wild card" who repeatedly attacks people during negotiations is even if you do try to motion toward de-escalation the only rational thing your counterparty can do is assume you're lying and prepare for attack

Hard to think of a book that needs a translation more than this one. I think it needs to be crowdfunded and distributed within Israel, and with urgency.

When I last lived in DC Chercher on 9th St had the best Ethiopian food I’ve ever tried.

La Nakba du Liban-Sud

Lebanese francophone outlet L’Orient Le-Jour: the Nakba of South Lebanon.

We Lebanese are calling it for what it is: a continuation of the 1948 Nakba.

The photo shows a Lebanese village with an Israeli flag on it, planted by the genocidal army.

To stay or to go? No good options for Lebanon’s displaced Residents of southern Lebanon face a stark choice: stay home and risk being killed, or flee and risk deepening poverty.

I wrote about Israel’s forced evacuation, what happens to those who leave and those who stay behind

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

I can't stop thinking about Palantir's manifesto and how (as far as I've seen anyway) there has been very little pushback on it

'Like Gaza': IDF razes south Lebanon villages during cease-fire, sources say Sources Describe a Policy Modeled on Gaza Operations, With Contractors and Heavy Machinery Demolishing Civilian Infrastructure South of the Litani; Officials Say It Aims to Prevent Residents' Return a...

IDF commanders told Haaretz that southern Lebanon is being demolished “like Gaza.” The declared goal is to prevent civilians from being able to return.

Both are war crimes punishable under international law.

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

While we're doing maps, look at how much of Lebanon's farmland sits in the "Forward Defense Zone" which was also subject to this white phosphorus use.

Here's another nugget. Read @justinsalhani.bsky.social's March 2024 report on Israel's use of White Phosphorus in south Lebanon www.aljazeera.com/features/lon...

The map is similar to the IDF's declared "Forward Defense Zone" in April 2026, two years later

Displaced Lebanese wary as ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah begins Tensions linger as evacuees await clarity on the ceasefire’s terms before risking a return to war-torn villages.

Many in Lebanon told me they don’t trust this ceasefire. Some went to check their homes but didn’t stay.

Many expect a resumption of fighting at some point.

www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/...

To stay or to go? No good options for Lebanon’s displaced Residents of southern Lebanon face a stark choice: stay home and risk being killed, or flee and risk deepening poverty.

I wrote about Israel’s forced evacuation, what happens to those who leave and those who stay behind

www.aljazeera.com/features/202...

It’s not yet 9am and 3 different people have already asked me if the war will return.

Eyal Weizman · All they will find is sand: Gaza’s Yellow Line Most of the Gaza Strip – cities, refugee camps, schools, universities, mosques, the health infrastructure, agriculture...

The horrors of Israel’s genocide in Gaza are numerous and still unfolding. Eyal Weizman’s work on this is some of our generation’s most important cultural production/documentation.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Perks of being an independent open-source investigator is getting to work across different kitchens. Sometimes you support a newsroom on an investigation; other times you spend a while with a humanitarian organization. You get a taste of their work, and they learn from you too.

Israel hit the south severely in the minutes leading up to the ceasefire. A contact in Sur, a coastal city in the south, told me there were multiple massacres

Both those who favour peace with Israel and those who oppose it claim they are the overwhelming majorities in Lebanon.

I think the vast majority probably doesn’t trust Israel and also wants an end to war. But after that there is a lot of projection about what the best method is to achieve that

A possible ceasefire in Lebanon — will it hold? Podcast Episode · The Take · April 15 · 20m

I went on AJ's podcast The Take to talks rumours of a ceasefire and the widely criticised Lebanon-Israel negotiations

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

Portfolio of Chris Osieck for investigations that he's contributed to or been featured in during early year 2026.

As the first quarter of the year has ended, I’m sharing investigations I’ve contributed to or been featured in, focused on Iran and Gaza. Grateful to everyone I’ve worked with, those who included my findings in their publications, and those who continue to support my work.

erupts, then it won't matter as much what happens in Washington or Tel Aviv.

But something has to give. Trump seems to be crumbling. Netanyahu can't hold on forever either. And Europe/US politics on Israel are shifting.

The question then is, how much pain will be inflected on us or will we inflict on ourselves, in the interim. If Israel keeps pressing & civil conflict...

Today, the future in Lebanon looks quite dim. We once again have to rely on Israel's benevolence and American assurances (each as reliable as Lebanese electricity).

Internally, polarisation is higher than I can ever recall, with each side creating scarecrows of their opponents.

I think that is also partially because our Christian community is more visible/known in European capitals. But that also has a downside, including the rabid Lebanese diaspora/lobby in DC that is more extreme than our domestic right wing

it's amazing to see. so much of this is existential for us in Palestine and Lebanon, so the faster it moves the better. Unfortunately a lot of us will die in the interim...

Worth reflecting on how fast public discourse on this has changed. When we published “The One State Reality” in @foreignaffairs.com in 2023, three influential participants in a forum the next issue called as antisemites (in kinda embarrassing and lazy pieces).

US-Israeli Attacks on Iran Show a Pattern of ‘Double-Tap’ Strikes New Lines verified three cases in Tehran and Karaj where sites were hit multiple times, increasing the harm to civilians and first responders for little military advantage

Editor's Pick:
An exclusive investigation has verified three cases of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran following a "double-tap" pattern — with multiple blasts increasing harm to civilians for little military advantage. @chrisosieck.bsky.social & @ntabrizy.bsky.social report.

‘I felt betrayed, naked’: did a prize-winning novelist steal a woman’s life story? The long read: His novel was praised for giving a voice to the victims of Algeria’s brutal civil war. But one woman has accused Kamel Daoud of having stolen her story – and the ensuing legal battle ha...

This story is utterly mind-blowing and I encourage you to read it

On Half a Century of Growing up as a Child of the War What does it mean to be someone who lived through Lebanon's civil war?

April 13 is the anniversary of the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil war, which began in 1975. For The Public Source, I wrote about the twisted nostalgia many of us feel for those dark days:

thepublicsource.org/civil-war-le...

Lebanon's ministry of health now has counted 2124 deaths from Israeli attacks since March 2.

Of those, 168 have been children.

US-Israeli Attacks on Iran Show a Pattern of ‘Double-Tap’ Strikes New Lines verified three cases in Tehran and Karaj where sites were hit multiple times, increasing the harm to civilians and first responders for little military advantage

Analysis by @ntabrizy.bsky.social and myself for @newlinesmag.bsky.social reveals that the U.S.-Israeli coalition has employed so-called double tap strikes, showing a callous disregard for civilians and a pattern of airstrikes seeking to inflict reckless harm on Iranians.

Israeli strike kills infant girl in south Lebanon during father's funeral Wrapped in bloodied bandages, Aline Saeed, 7, barely survived an Israeli strike on her home. She was there to bury her father when a new strike killed her infant sister and other relatives.

“Israeli strike kills infant girl in south Lebanon during father’s funeral” — headline that tells you all you need to know about Israel’s war on Lebanon