u/Complete-Definition4

https://shafaq.com/en/Middle-East/Washington-pushes-Israel-Lebanon-talks-over-Hezbollah-and-border-security

The United States will facilitate two days of intensive talks between Israel and Lebanon on May 14 and 15, the State Department announced Friday, as negotiations expand to include border demarcation, security arrangements, and the future of Hezbollah’s weapons.

In a statement, the State Department indicated that the discussions aim to establish permanent security and peace arrangements while supporting the “full restoration” of Lebanese sovereignty.

Washington also stressed that any lasting peace between Israel and Lebanon depends on the Lebanese state fully asserting its authority and the complete disarmament of Hezbollah.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/lebanon-hezbollah-disarm-9.7189327

On a recent trip through communities in southern Lebanon, CBC News spoke to municipal leaders who expressed deep frustration with both Hezbollah and the Lebanese government

"We respect our army and want them properly equipped so that they can properly defend the people and territory," said Hussein Fahes, the mayor of the town of Jibchit.

His community was heavily bombed by Israel, leaving almost all of the buildings around the town square, and the community’s main mosque, in ruins.

"If that [improved army performance] happens, then there won't be a need for resistance forces," said Fahes.

Sinking ship?

In interviews with international media in Beirut this week, a Hezbollah spokesman said despite taking heavy casualties, the group has been able to "reconstitute its forces" and is preparing for a long battle with Israel.

While its rhetoric remains defiant, Rabah believesHezbollah’s grip on the public imagination is slipping.

When asked how long it will take to disarm Hezbollah, he said, "I believe it takes less ... than three years."

"It's about changing the mood and changing the framing. People will simply not stay on a sinking ship," he said. "People will leave it."

The digital attack involved the circulation of altered images portraying the patriarch in mocking and degrading ways.

Jowelle M. Howayeck, a Lebanese civic activist and 2022 parliamentary candidate, arguedthat the campaign is neither spontaneous nor ambiguous in its intent. “It is both intimidation and sectarian provocation, and it is deliberate,” she said.

The patriarch himself has been targeted before "because the patriarch represents a form of authority that cannot be coerced or absorbed: moral legitimacy anchored in national identity," Howayeck said. "Whenever his positions align with state sovereignty, they expose a structural contradiction within the opposing project.”

The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI) removed digital content featuring a caricature of Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem in a video inspired by the characters of the game ‘’Angry Birds,’’ following instructions from Public Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation Ahmad Rami al-Hajj.

Hezbollah issued a statement Saturday criticizing recent content published by LBCI, saying the videos posted in recent days “go beyond the limits of political disagreement.”

The group also called on its supporters and backers to “be aware of the seriousness of what is being plotted against all Lebanese,” urging them to “rise above being drawn into what the enemies of the resistance, and thus the enemies of Lebanon, are deliberately and systematically seeking.”

Media leaks citing military sources within Hezbollah said the group is studying a return to “1980s tactics,” including activating what it described as “martyrdom units.”

Retired Brigadier General Yarub Sakhr told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the field reality in southern Lebanon makes talk of a return to suicide operations closer to a theoretical proposition than a practical option.”

He noted that “signaling the existence of such operations along the border with Israel is used in a propaganda context,” adding that “the real message goes beyond the military dimension to the Lebanese domestic arena, where this rhetoric is employed as a pressure tool on officials and political forces to push them toward certain foreign policy choices.”

Due to my experiences both managing and participating in various anarchist spaces, I'd really like to throw out the entire idea of anarchist community and re-imagine how anarchistic interactions can be manifested going forward.

Much like the related ideologically sacred institution of democracy, the whole concept of community is insidious and underhanded, an ideal seemingly designed to manipulate people into associating with bullies and dickheads by whittling away at basic human needs like autonomy, self-determination and consent.

…

Someone posed this question to me recently about my frequent critiquing of democracy:

"If you're against democracy, how would you propose consensus be reached among an anarchist community?"

Before I can answer the question, I should point out that most definitions of 'commune' wildly conflict with anarchy. Take this common definition, for example:

"organized for the protection and promotion of local interests, and subordinate to the state; the government or governing body of such a community."

So like a lot of the authority-based concepts certain anarchists feel the need to appropriate, a community is assumed by polite society to come with a certain expectation of authority.

…

"How would I suggest you make decisions when you have disagreements with your friends over which course of action to take?"

Well, I wouldn't suggest anything.

If you and your friends need me to prescribe you a program to adhere to in order for your friendship to function, you're clearly not interested in practicing anarchy.

Why even put the effort into maintaining the friendship if you need to involve an external body to create systems, laws and processes to ensure the friendship remains equitable and fulfilling? If your friend isn't being fair to you, why are you still their friend?

Anyone who would exploit you, diminish you, neglect you or deny you your autonomy isn't acting as a friend and doesn't deserve to be considered one. A friend cherishes and respects you. A friend encourages you to fulfill your desires and does everything they can to help achieve your needs.

And if you're not friends with the people you're in disagreement with, why do you care to reach consensus with them? Why share experiences with them and tie your fate to their desires if you don't even like them?

Located in the Qantara area, Israeli troops used "over 450 tons of explosives" to demolish them, it said.

An Israeli military source described it as a "massive underground military installation" comprising an 800-meter tunnel and a second which ran for 1.2 kilometers, used as "an assembly area" for Hezbollah's elite Radwan forces.

He said it was "designed, sponsored and paid for by Iran" for the purpose of "raiding Israeli communities along the border".