Kamala Harris says Israel has ‘right to defend itself’ after Beirut strike
“What we know, in particular, is it has the right to defend itself against the terrorist organisation, which is exactly what Hezbollah is,” she said. "But all of that being said, we still must work on a diplomatic solution to end these attacks and we will continue to do that work.”
Abandon Kamala: Why Gaza Could Cost Democrats the Election
With Biden out and Kamala Harris in, many were hopeful this could mean an end to US support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. But “thisis is deeply wishful thinking,” says Briahna Joy Gray, host of the Bad Faith podcast. “Kamala is the same policy in a different package.” As the Democratic party embraces increasingly anti-labor policies and aligns with AIPAC and other right-wing interest groups, they have become virtually indistinguishable from the Republicans — save for their cynical use of identity politics. Gray explains why this is a losing strategy.
Iran will not want to endanger Hezbollah
Rami Khouri, a non-resident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington and a distinguished fellow at the American University of Beirut, spoke to Al Jazeera about where Iran fits into the attacks between Hezbollah and Israel.
He said Iran is “extremely close to Hezbollah” and has helped to develop its capabilities, making the group a key “link in the regional Axis of Resistance”.
The axis, he added, links “various Arab resistance militant groups with Iran and some other parties” who say they want “to try to push back against Israel-American hegemony”.
Hezbollah, he said, “is the most successful outcome of the Iranian Revolution outside of Iran”. Khouri said that although that makes it very important to the Iranian regime, it is also “very careful not to endanger Hezbollah to keep it strong”. Iran doesn’t “want to be reckless” by pushing the Lebanese armed group into a “big war”, he said.
“It’s a likelihood is that there will be continued tit-for-tat counter attacks” between Israel and Hezbollah and “it’s absolutely sure that Hezbollah will carry out some kind of operation of equal magnitude to what the Israelis did”.
“Maybe they’ll attack a building in the suburbs of Tel Aviv to show their reach, or maybe they’ll attack a military base, and they might attack they target a particular person,” Khouri said.
