Politics, philosophy, and music. Lecturer in Politics & Religion, University of Stirling. Author of “Hizbullah and the Politics of Remembrance” (Cambridge UP)
Joined August 2011
- Tweets2.5K
- Following891
- Followers1.2K
- Likes1.9K
Bashir Saade retweeted
For an academic treatment of this subject and Hezbollah by someone - a Lebanese - who has been to Lebanon and knows it deeply, the best is Bashir's book:
amazon.com/Hizbullah-Politic…
The Lebanese Forces released the new anthem for its Martyrs' Mass, an event the party held every year since 1991, with an interruption due to the party's 1994-2005 ban during the era of the Syrian occupation (during this time, locally and secretly held martyrs' masses continued). The Martyrs' Mass is the central and largest event the LF holds every year and represents the centrality of glorifying the fallen in the ranks of the LF during the Lebanese civil war.
Each year, the party issues an anthem to accompany the Mass. This anthem, like other LF songs, presents the supporters of the LF as those who stayed in Lebanon. In a country preoccupied with demographic balances and beset by massive emigration and brain drain, the Christian Right views remaining in Lebanon as a form of resistance in itself, which guarantees the preservation of Lebanon's unique civilizing and free nature (Lubnan a-Rissala, a central concept in Lebanese Right thinking). Several LF songs stress the steadfastness of LF supporters and combatants in remaining in Lebanon, such as the anthem for the 2020 Mass, "We Remain" (باقين) and the earlier LF song "Where were you when we were?" (وين كنتو لما كنا).
The musical production of parties is severely understudied in political science, despite songs often being the most viral and effective medium to carry the party's messaging to its followers. I hope to contribute to improving this state of affairs in my PhD dissertation, which alongside interviews with members of the LF and Sadrist Current in Iraq, and quantitative data, relies on analysis of musical production by both parties.
Bashir Saade retweeted
If you believe the Israeli army has become immoral only after the 7th of October 2023, you are dead wrong. Read this:
During the 1948 war, the Zionist Haganah and the newly formed IDF did not rely on conventional warfare alone.
Israeli historians Benny Morris and Benjamin Z. Kedar have documented a covert biological warfare campaign known as “Cast Thy Bread” or “Shallah Lahmekha”, in which Arab water sources were deliberately contaminated with bacteria, including typhoid and dysentery agents. The operation targeted wells and water systems in places such as Acre, where a typhoid outbreak preceded the city’s fall, and included attempted operations elsewhere, including Eilabun and the Gaza area.
What had long been dismissed as rumour has since been substantiated through declassified Israeli military archives, references in David Ben-Gurion’s diary, British, Red Cross and Arab reports, and the detailed research published by Morris and Kedar in Middle Eastern Studies.
The significance is not only historical but legal and moral. The poisoning of civilian water sources violated the 1925 Geneva Protocol’s prohibition on bacteriological warfare and formed part of a wider strategy designed to weaken Arab communities, spread fear, impede military movement and discourage the return of displaced Palestinians. Its overall battlefield impact may have been limited, but the precedent is stark: biological contamination was used as an instrument of war and population control during Israel’s foundational conflict.
Bashir Saade retweeted
‘They massacred Arab babies’
Headline in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, 1948.
This passage stands out:
Jews saw their opportunity. Men of the army of Zion attacked Deir Yassin at 10 a.m. that day.
They easily overcame the opposition. They killed 20 Arab defenders, and entered the village, tossing grenades into houses.
They killed old men, women, and children with bayonets. For three hours the slaughter went on.
Babies were killed in front of their mothers. Mothers’ throats were slit. Some were beheaded.
A group of men and women—some of the women obviously pregnant—were lined up and shot. The bloodlusting Jewish soldiery desecrated the bodies of pregnant mothers with knives.
When they had murdered 264 villagers, the Jews called a halt. They rounded up four truckloads of survivors of all ages and both sexes, tossed the bodies of the dead into the village well, and drove off with the survivors.
The victorious Jews drove the survivors through Jewish areas as exhibits of victory while Jews spat upon them. The parade continued, with breaks, for two days.
——————-
Every Zionist accusation is a confession.
Zionism is Jewish supremacism. The bloodlust is baked in.
#EndJewishSupremacy
#DismantleZionism
Bashir Saade retweeted
🚨 A journalist colleague, @loffredojeremy reached out to the number that had sent death threats to Lebanese journalist @AmalKhalil, asking for comment.
This was the response:
“These are not innocent people… journalists affiliated with Hezbollah… should know that they are destined for death.”
Read that again.
A direct threat is not only repeated, it is justified.
Journalists are being labeled, dehumanised, & openly treated as legitimate targets.
This is not intimidation.
This is the normalisation of targeting journalists.
Amal al-Khalil was reporting from village to village, documenting funerals, destruction, & the human cost of Israel’s war on Lebanon.
She is not a combatant. She is a journalist.
And yet, the message is clear: those who report are being threatened with death.
This is being said openly.
Read the message below 👇
Bashir Saade retweeted
This excellent exposé of Mossad's methodology in conducting assassinations in Lebanon is essential viewing.
Make sure you subscribe and donate to @AlMahtta0 and follow @RadwanMortada.
I hope they will be able to put English subtitles on all their videos. No doubt donations would help this along.
Bashir Saade retweeted
Mapped the IDF's newly declared "Forward Defense Zone" in south Lebanon. Its maritime boundary fully absorbs Lebanon's Qana gas field, whose exploration rights were explicitly guaranteed under the 2022 US-brokered maritime border agreement.
More maps in this thread 🧵
#عاجل ينشر جيش الدفاع نطاق خط الدفاع الأمامي الذي تعمل فيه قواته في جنوب لبنان لمنع تهديد مباشر على بلدات الشمال
🔸في هذه الأيام تعمل خمس فرق عسكرية إلى جانب قوات سلاح البحرية بشكل متزامن جنوب خط الدفاع الأمامي في جنوب لبنان لتدمير البنى التحتية التابعة لحزب الله في المنطقة ومنع تهديد مباشر على بلدات الشمال.
Bashir Saade retweeted
Wake up babe the Pope is Baudrillard posting
When simulation becomes the norm, it weakens the human capacity for discernment. As a result, our social bonds close in upon themselves, forming self-referential circuits that no longer expose us to reality. We thus come to live within bubbles, impermeable to one another. Feeling threatened by anyone who is different, we grow unaccustomed to encounter and dialogue. In this way, polarization, conflict, fear and violence spread. What is at stake is not merely the risk of error, but a transformation in our very relationship with truth.
Bashir Saade retweeted
‼️ Israel just formalized its land grab in southern Lebanon with a brand-new “Yellow Line” - a unilateral buffer zone, straight out of the Gaza playbook.
The IDF now claims a high-security perimeter inside Lebanese territory, reportedly covering 55 villages.
Residents are barred from returning & Israeli forces say they will continue demolishing any homes, infrastructure, or “threats” they deem necessary within that area. Same rules of engagement as Gaza. Same permanent-occupation model.
Surely, this was never agreed to by the Lebanese government?
The 10-day ceasefire, barely two days old, was presented as a pause to negotiate withdrawal and de-escalation. There has been no indication Beirut agreed to Israel carving out a security strip, preventing civilians from returning, or continuing destruction under its own rules.
Netanyahu and the IDF are openly saying they’re staying put and expanding control. That’s not a ceasefire, that’s the slow-motion imposition of a buffer zone dressed up as security policy.
Lebanon did not agree to give up these villages. Israel is acting as if it has.
At this pace, it is only a matter of time before the Resistance resumes activity against, what is in effect, an official occupying force.
A ceasefire this fragile will not hold
Bashir Saade retweeted
Israel has destroyed the final bridge to Southern Lebanon. There is now no way for millions of displaced people to reach their homes. There is no means for essential aid and supplies to reach those who were unable to flee.
Another mammoth war crime, another act of barbarity.
Bashir Saade retweeted
The bells of Our Lady of the Head Church tolled solemnly at the moment the town’s son, Hezbollah martyr Jaafar Ibrahim Salim, returned home; an echo of grief, honor, and farewell carried through every corner of the village of Bahboush in Koura, north Lebanon.
A Muslim-Shia northerner rose to Allah sw, while defending our south from Zionist aggression and occupation, being honored by his Christian brothers and sisters who all come from the same village, on the eve of Good Friday. Nothing tops this.
Nothing.
Bashir Saade retweeted
(Then) President Amine el-Gemayel writing in 1985:
“If Israel does not withdraw fully and soon, the Lebanese resistance movement could develop from a movement to free Lebanon from Israeli occupation to a movement that threatens the Israeli state per se. Passions that are unleashed now could evolve into a massive and unpredictable movement with long-range consequences for the prospects of peace in the Middle East.”
Analysis?
(1) Israel did not withdraw (until 2000).
(2) The resistance movement expanded in capacity and evolved into a transnational actor (with Iranian backing).
(3) Israel is now engaged in a regional, existentially framed war. The region is in deep trouble.
(4) Segments of Lebanese society have yet to comprehend these dynamics, and continue to miss the point: occupying the South will not resolve the problem.
foreignaffairs.com/articles/…
Bashir Saade retweeted
A v.timely &insightful piece by @ziadaburish: "The result was an army structurally oriented twd shoring up state power domestically, managing Lebanon’s internal fractures, &maintaining intnl alliances rather than confronting Israel’s repeated violations of Leb. territory."
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.
Historian Ziad Abu-Rish (@ziadaburish) breaks down these constraints and interrogates the question of sovereignty: thepublicsource.org/lebanese…
Bashir Saade retweeted
Israel later killed 7 members of her family before killing her and her brother
Bashir Saade retweeted
Incredible photo of the Lebanese journalist, Ali Shoeib, reporting in front of illegal invaders.
Shoeib was murdered by Israel today in a targeted assassination.
Bashir Saade retweeted
I don’t get it. If Hezbollah had flats in this block (unlikely in central Beirut but not impossible) why did the Israelis give everyone inside an hour to get out — including those they wanted to kill? And if there weren’t any Hezbollah people there, why destroy a building with dozens of civilians in it?
Bashir Saade retweeted
‼️ For those trying to understand what has really been happening in the Lebanese border towns, this post below from @cheib1970 lays it out clearly. Here is a concise translated summary:
1// When the ceasefire began, the resistance adhered to it. Israel did not.
At that time Israeli forces controlled only 40–70% of the front-line villages, depending on the area, after 66 days of intense fighting in which Israel deployed its full air & ground capabilities.
The advance of five Israeli divisions was halted at the edges of these towns.
2/ During the first 60-day truce, Israel moved to complete control over areas it had failed to enter during the fighting - notably Khiam.
Tanks & bulldozers advanced under heavy fire, demolishing homes & destroying large parts of several border towns.
3/ After withdrawing, Israeli forces kept five positions inside Lebanese territory:
Tal al-Hamamis
Hounin
Jabal al-Bat
Jabal Blat
Labouneh
Meanwhile the Lebanese Army deployed in the villages & declared them weapon-free zones.
Yet Israeli drone strikes, incursions & demolitions continued regardless.
4/ When the latest escalation began, airstrikes & shelling resumed & residents were forced to flee.
The Lebanese Army then withdrew completely from these villages, leaving a vacuum that Israeli forces moved into.
5/ Several Israeli advances then encountered resistance.
At Tal al-Nuhas north of Kfarkela, three Merkava tanks were hit with guided missiles.
Another push from Tal al-Hamamis toward Khiam ran into an IED & direct clashes.
Israeli forces withdrew from both attempts.
6/ Since then Israel has massed dozens of tanks along the border & attempted limited incursions under heavy air & artillery cover.
Resistance units have continued targeting troop movements with rockets, artillery & guided missiles, including in Jabal Blat, Markaba & Khiam.
Israel has acknowledged casualties & destroyed equipment.
7/ Despite repeated attempts over the past 12 days, Israel has still struggled to establish full control over several of these border towns.
The current reality is a combination of partial incursions, continued fighting, & a vacuum left by the withdrawal of the Lebanese Army.
"حول المجريات الميدانية في البلدات الحدودية في ظل عمليات التوغل الإسرائيلية منذ بداية المواجهات" :
- لا يخفى على أحدٍ ما جرى بعد بدء سريان قرار وقف اطلاق النار الذي التزمت فيه المقاومة ولم يلتزم فيه العدو ، حينها كانت تتراوح سيطرة العدو على بلدات الخط الأول بين 40 ٪ الى 70 ٪ من كل قرية بسبب الصمود الاسطوري والاستشهادي للمقاومين الذي استطاع إيقاف غزو خمس فرق اسرائيلية عند حدود هذه القرى ، ولم يتمكن العدو من السيطرة الكاملة على عدد محدود ، بينما عجز العدو عن بسط سيطرته على نصف هذه البلدات عند وقف اطلاق النار ، وتمكنت مجموعات من المقاومين من الخروج سالمين من هذه القرى بعد مواجهات ضارية استخدم فيها العدو كل قدراته العسكرية الجوية و البرية على 66 يوما ،
- بعد وقف اطلاق النار وخلال فترة الهدنة الأولى التي استمرت 60 يوما بدأ جيش العدو بإستكمال السيطرة على بقية الأحياء في القرى الأمامية التي لم يستطع دخولها اثناء المواجهات ومنها مدينة الخيام نموذجا ، فاكمل اجتياها بالجرافات والدبابات تحت غطاء ناري بالرشاشات والقذائف رغم التزام لبنان بوقف اطلاق النار ووصل الى وادي السلوقي وبدأ عملية تفجير وابادة للمنازل والممتلكات ودمر بلدات حدودية بأكملها .
- بعد انسحاب قوات الإحتلال ابقائه على خمس مواقع رئيسية داخل الاراضي اللبنانية وهي ( تلة الحمامص - هونين - - جبل الباط - جبل بلاط - اللبونة ) و دخول الأهالي ، انتشر الجيش اللبناني في البلدات الحدودية وأعلن المنطقة خالية من السلاح ، لكن ذلك لم يمنع العدو من استمرار عدوانه بالمسيرات و المحلقات والتوغلات البرية الى داخل القرى وتفجير المنازل من دون أي رادع ، و بقيت هذه القرى تحت احتلال مقنّع ،
- مع بداية المواجهات الأخيرة بدأ العدو بغاراته الجوية وقصفه المدفعي ، وأصبح افراغ المنطقة أمرا واقعا بعد النزوح القسري لأهلها وأكتمل بإعلان الجيش اللبناني انسحابه من كامل هذه القرى ، استغلّ جيش الاحتلال من فراغ البلدات الحدودية فبدأ التحرك بدباباته نحو بعض النقاط داخلها ، على غرار ما كان يفعل خلال ساعات الليل اثناء وجود الجيش اللبناني وقوات اليونيفل الدولية ، ليصتدم بواقع جديد في " تل النحاس" شمال بلدة كفركلا عندما استهدفت المقاومة 3 دبابات ميركافا بالصواريخ الموجهة من خارج المنطقة ، فتراجع الى نقاط خلفية ، ثم حاول مرة أخرى انطلاقا من "تلة الحمامص" بإتجاه جنوب مدينة الخيام واصتدم حينها بعبوة ناسفة واشتباك مباشر داخل الحي الجنوبي ، ثم تراجع الى نقطة وادي العصافير الخلفية ، وتكرر المشهد في بلدة مركبا قرب الموقع المستحدث ، ومنذ ذلك الوقت بدأ جيش العدو بحشد عشرات الدبابات عند حدود القرى وبدأ بعمليات توغل محدودة في البلدات الحدودية بغطاء ناري كثيف من الغارات الجوية والقصف المدفعي والرشقات الرشاشة وتقدم في أماكن ذات جغرافية تخفي تحركه عن الرؤية لبلدات النسق الثاني ، ورغم ذلك كانت المقاومة تتعامل مع كل هذه التحركات والتجمعات من خلال الصليات الصاروخية والقصف المدفعي واحيانا الصواريخ الموجهة كما حصل في جبل بلاط و مركبا ومدينة الخيام و واعترف العدو بوقوع قتلى وجرحى من بين جنوده وتدمير جرافات ودبابات ، ولا زال الحديث يدور عن بلدات حدودية خالية بفعل ما تقدّم من أحداث وتخلِّ الجيش اللبناني عنها تنفيذًا لقرار حكومي وهي واقعًا كانت لا تزال محتلة بأشكال مختلفة ،
هذا الواقع لا زال قائمًا حتى اليوم مع تسجيل محاولات متكررة للسيطرة الكاملة على هذه القرى منذ 12 يومًا تتعرض للصدّ بأشكال مختلفة من المقاومة ، وبالتالي أي سيطرة للعدو على اي بلدة حدودية لا يُعدّ انجازًا ، ويأتي في سياق مسؤولية الدولة عن التقاعس منذ البداية في صدّ التوغلات اليومية و لاحقا التخلي عن مسؤولية الدفاع عنها ، و ما عمليات المقاومة اليومية ضد التوغلات الإسرائيلية والاشتباك معها رغم فارق القدرات العسكرية الاّ تغطيةً للفراغ الذي تركته الدولة ، وهي تقوم بواجبها الأخلاقي والوطني بالدفاع عن بلداتها بروح استشهادية كربلائية ، وصمود اسطوري ، بوجه جحافل الدبابات ومئات الغارات الجوية ،
للمقاومين الذي أخلصوا لله والأرض الف تحية ، وللشهداء دين في رقاب كلّ حرّ وشريف في هذا الوطن ،
سيكتب هؤلاء تاريخًا جديدًا من العزة والكرامة ، والايام والميدان سيثبتان أن الحق منتصر في النهاية ، والظلم و الاحتلال الى زوال .
Bashir Saade retweeted
لبنان الدولة والكيان:
(١) أخطر ما في هذه اللحظة أن ما جمع لبنان، كدولة وككيان، كان دائماً نتيجة تقاطع تفاهمات إقليمية مع تجلياتها في الداخل، ومنها المحاصصة بعد الحرب. نعم، المحاصصة ساهمت في جمع البلد (بشكل سلبي طبعاً).
اليوم الشرطان غير متوفرين: لا تفاهم في الداخل، بل تباعد في أقصى تجلياته (معادلة بيشبهونا/ما بيشبهوها)، ولا تسوية في الخارج. وإن أتت تسوية، فهل يكون لبنان جزءاً منها؟
(٢) كما أن معادلة المركز والأطراف، والتي لم تنل حقها من التحليل لأن التركيز انحصر في الطوائف وعلى العيش المشترك، قد تكون اليوم معياراً أساسياً في تقرير مصير البلد، أو "البلدان" التي قد تظهر، أو ما سيبقى منها (أو من البلد).
(٣) أما ما يسمى بالدولة، فلم تكن يوماً لاعباً جامعاً بين اللبنانيين، ولا لاعباً على مسافة من الجميع. كانت الدولة، أو الوعد بتحقيقها، مساحة لتوزيع الموارد على أصحاب المشاريع الكبرى (اهل النظام)، وكان الوعد بتحقيقها شعاراً لكي ينتصر فريق على آخر.
اللحظة الحالية ليست سوى تجلٍ واضح لمسار بدأ في التسعينيات.
الجميع، بشكل أو بآخر، كان يستعد لهذه اللحظة.
فهل ينفرط العنقود؟