Amal Movement

Is there some new political entity or is Hezbollah the thing that sticks around?

Well, as you very well know, Jonathan, it's not just Hezbollah that's representing the Shia, it's also Amal.

So you wonder at that point, if you get to that outcome, whether Amal would step up and really, you know, fill in the so-called vacuum.

But I mean, boy, would it be such a major transformational challenge for Hezbollah to reinvent itself into becoming a political party? Because throughout its history, since its birth, it has always used politics in the service of what it calls the resistance.

It really was never a sophisticated political party with a political program.

It didn't really care about, you know, how it ran its political machinery as long as it was in the service of the military struggle and, of course, serving the agenda of Iran, right? So for them to reinvent themselves, I suspect that that would be either virtually impossible or it would really dilute their influence tremendously to the point where, of course, Amal would exploit that and they become, you know, the main representative of the Shiite community.

So I think we've always had this consensus that it's always the arms, the struggle that is predominant, that is the core priority and politics sort of like as a means to that.

I mean, I wouldn't mind watching Hezbollah enter into some sort of a crisis, at which point Amal takes them over and kind of just reimagines Shia politics in Lebanon.

Abu Saab is the founder of the American University of Dubai.

and also what it is up against in that the Speaker of Lebanon's Parliament is, as it has been since 1992, Nabi Berri, now 88, long-serving leader of Amal, once a rival militia to Hezbollah, now a sort of Shia ally.

Starting with the easy question, I began by asking how far Lebanon currently is from reaching any kind of agreement with Israel.

Representatives from the two countries are supposed to meet next month in Rome.

Thank you to this terrific panel.

Hussein, can I dig in a little bit more with you on what's happening between Amal and Hezbollah? There was a skirmish last week between Amal and Hezbollah.

It was pretty serious.

Yet both parties decided to paper it over.

Put that aside for a second.

The fact that Aman Hezbollah, did paper it over last week.

Does it tell you something about Amal growing more resentful, the Shiite population that belongs to Amal is growing more resentful, and thus they may start acting out in such a way? The second question, Ludo, and you can direct to whoever you like, is the capacity versus the will of the LAF, and we've all seen it.

On the capacity side, when we went into Fallujah, for example, as Joel knows for sure, the clear and hold strategy requires a lot of manpower.

A strike in Khaifar Raumin hit a three-storey building, resulting in deaths and multiple injuries.

Separately, a vehicle was targeted, killing a paramedic affiliated with the Amal Movement's Islamic Rizalah Scout Association, and wounding several others.

In Deir al-Zahrani, an IDF spokesperson issued Arabic evacuation warnings and read maps for a building located near a Hezbollah facility, which was subsequently struck.

These intensified attacks follow a Hezbollah violation of the ceasefire involving an explosive drone launched towards Israeli forces.