Do not miss this powerful and beautifully written piece, by @thepublicsource.bsky.social's superb Christina Cavalcanti, about what it means to survive repeated expulsions and occupations—and yet still insist, exist, persist, resist
Honored to be edited & published by the amazing
@thepublicsource.bsky.social as I challenge false premise of measuring #sovereignty in #Lebanon vis-a-vis #Hizballah given Israeli policies. Instead, I argue for attention to more historical institutional dynamics—especially the Lebanese Armed Forces.
In @thepublicsource.bsky.social: @ziadaburish.bsky.social on how "sovereigntist" demands for a state monopoly on force ignore how the Lebanese army has developed, historically, as an internal security force, effectively delegating territorial defense to Hizbullah: thepublicsource.org/lebanese-arm...
The intensity of Israel’s bombardment on April 8 overwhelmed hospital morgues that are still holding unidentified bodies and fragments of remains.
More about the aftermath of “Black Wednesday” on our blog: thepublicsource.org/blog/lebanon...
On Friday, the Health Ministry reported that 357 people had been killed, but the death toll continues to rise as civil defense teams recover remains from beneath the rubble.
One week after “Black Wednesday,” eight people, including one child, remain missing. Their loved ones move between hospitals and morgues in search of answers, submitting DNA in the hope of identifying their relatives.
Dana Hourany & Amelia Hankins report ⬇️
Images: Days of Wrath & Days of Tragedy (two different books by Joseph G. Chami) “Tenzakar ta ma ten‘ad,” we’d recite, “we remember so as not to repeat” — as though the only thing missing was some kind of collective grief therapy for the country, and then we’d be able to move past it all.
Images: Days of Wrath & Days of Tragedy (two different books by Joseph G. Chami) Half a century on, the civil war remains more present and alive than ever, and no amount of remembering can ward off its return. Because the conditions that made it are ever with us. Only the generation bringing it on has changed. It is us now.
“We went to vigils commemorating April 13 every year, holding up candles and photographs with the families of the 17,000 disappeared,” Lina Mounzer writes.
Images: Days of Wrath & Days of Tragedy (two different books by Joseph G. Chami) What's So Civil About War Anyway? We emerged from the same darkness of childhood, united by our common knowledge of the horror of war. By Lina Mounzer
Lina Mounzer writes about how her generation grew up in a world where violence was ordinary. The Lebanese civil war began on April 13, 1975...
Her childhood was shaped by a nostalgia for war that was inherited, not remembered.
thepublicsource.org/civil-war-le...
Photographs: Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Follow our live blog for more reports, commentary, and analysis on the imperial war against the region: thepublicsource.org/imperial-war
The mobilization came a day after a barrage of Israeli airstrikes across the country killed at least 303 people within minutes, with rescue efforts still ongoing. Protesters vowed: “We will not remain silent after today.”
Dozens gathered in Riad al-Solh Square, facing the Grand Serail, on Thursday at 2 p.m. in protest of Lebanon’s cabinet decision to enforce army authority by disarming the resistance. Demonstrators chanted against Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, calling him a “Zionist.”
Dispatches Wave of Israeli Strikes Across Lebanon Kills Hundreds in Minutes By Christina Cavalcanti & Laura Albast Photographs by Marwan Bou Haidar
Israeli occupation forces carried out more than 100 strikes across the country in about 10 minutes on Wednesday, killing at least 254 people and overwhelming hospitals with wounded.
Christina Cavalcanti & Laura Albast (@laubast.bsky.social) report: thepublicsource.org/blog/lebanon...
Read more about the organizers’ demands on our blog. Reporting by Christina Cavalcanti and Dana Hourany
thepublicsource.org/blog/lebanon...
Since March 2, Israel has killed more than 1,268 people, wounded more than 3,750 and displaced over one million individuals. Israeli occupation forces have also attempted to push deeper into southern Lebanese territory, with resistance fighters relentlessly blocking their attempts.
Summary of Petition Demands: The President must uphold his oath and positions on the resistance’s weapons as a sovereign issue, act to defend Lebanon, and honor his earlier stance on liberating Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Hills. The cohesion and solidarity of the people in the face of external aggression, coordination and integration between the state and the resistance at this stage, and the state's utilization of all its resources to reach a ceasefire agreement, liberate the land, prevent attacks, secure the release of prisoners, and preserve sovereignty. The state must embrace and support displaced persons. All liberation forces — individuals, elites, and groups — must organize themselves within the framework of comprehensive resistance. This resistance must be manifest in all aspects of daily life and occupy the public sphere, especially given the colonial control over traditional media in Lebanon and the region.
The petition lists the following demands:
“Lebanon possesses all the elements of steadfastness; its fedayeen possess a strong will and solid understanding of what is necessary for successful resistance. It is high time our parties rise to this level.” —Georges Abdallah, freed former militant Image: Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Abdallah said to those gathered at the rally, “Let it be clear to all that the fundamental matter at hand is this: if Iran is defeated today, we will all be swept away by history.” Image: Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
The organizers condemned the government’s decision to institute a state monopoly on arms in August of last year, the decision to criminalize Hezbollah’s military activities of March 2, & the state’s failure to defend residents of the targeted areas, which it claims are under its sovereignty.
Organizers condemned the government for willingly dissipating Lebanese sovereignty through its official positions on Israel’s aggression and on the resistance, perversely casting the resistance as an adversary. Image: Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
The organizers indict the government for its “state of defeatism before the enemy entity, complete subservience to American dictates, and the abdication of sovereign responsibilities.” Image: Marwan Bou Haidar/the Public Source
The rally was called for after the organizers started a petition titled “The National Call for Comprehensive Resistance in the Face of the Aggression on Lebanon” on March 16, signed by more than 550 people.
Dispatches Lebanon's Intellectual and Cultural Front Rallies for National Resistance By Christina Cavalcanti and Dana Hourany Image by Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Around 150 people gathered in Riad al-Solh Square yesterday to call for a comprehensive national resistance against the ongoing Israeli aggression on Lebanon.
Christina Cavalcanti and Dana Hourany report: thepublicsource.org/blog/lebanon...
Read more about their steadfast journalism and the impact of their word on our blog:
thepublicsource.org/blog/lebanon...
Image: Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Fatima, 30, and her brother Mohammad Ftouni were from Taybeh, a village in Marjeyoun near Lebanon’s southeastern border. Fatima was known for her consistent and courageous reporting from high-risk areas along the Blue Line, even amid ongoing fighting.
📸 Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Image: Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Hajj Ali Shoeib, 56, was from al-Sharqiyah near Nabatieh and was known for his meticulous reporting on Israel’s attempts to reassert its presence in the South after its liberation in May 2000.
📸 Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Image: Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
On March 28, Israel assassinated Al Manar’s Ali Shoeib and Al Mayadeen’s Fatima Ftouni, alongside Ftouni’s younger brother, freelance videographer Mohammad. Israeli airstrikes targeted their vehicle on the Kfarhouna road near Jezzine.
📸 Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Image: Marwan Bou Haidar/The Public Source
Hundreds gathered on March 29 for the funeral of journalists Ali Shoeib of Al Manar, Fatima Ftouni of Al Mayadeen, & her younger brother, freelance videographer Mohammad Ftouni.
Christina Cavalcanti & Dana Hourany report: thepublicsource.org/blog/lebanon...
To understand the question of sovereignty without defense, read the rest of this article here: thepublicsource.org/lebanese-arm...
(Photos by Marwan Bou Haidar/ThePublicSource)
“Whatever one’s assessment of Hezbollah’s roles in domestic politics or in Syria, roles that are hardly above reproach, the raison d’etre of the organization’s military apparatus has been the expulsion, deterrence, and repulsion of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory,” writes Ziad Abu-Rish.
“Most foreign military aid packages to the LAF have explicitly avoided building up a genuine defensive capacity for Lebanon & instead focused on internal security. U.S. support to the LAF is effectively conditional on not being used against Israel under any circumstances,” —Ziad Abu-Rish.
“There are those who measure the capacity and sovereignty of the Lebanese state against the existence and conduct of Hezbollah’s military organization. This constitutes flawed analysis at best, and propaganda at worst,” writes Ziad Abu-Rish.
Historian Ziad Abu-Rish breaks down these constraints and how they inform the question of sovereignty: thepublicsource.org/lebanese-arm...
Calls to disarm Hezbollah rarely acknowledge Israel’s ongoing aggression. They also overlook the political and material constraints that have long prevented the Lebanese Armed Forces from assuming a defensive role.
thepublicsource.org/lebanese-arm...
"Psychologically...'Point-in-time trauma' is a depoliticized understanding of violence, dislocated from the historical context. It would have us focus more on naming the trauma to treat it, rather than recognizing and dismantling the traumatizer that caused it," says Lara Sheehi.