Lebanon Peace Deal Fuels War (S01E98)

The US managed to get Lebanon and Israel to sign on to a peace deal that key constituencies reject. The country’s parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri along with Hezbollah have rejected terms that seem to force the Lebanese Army and state to disarm Hezbollah without any guarantee that Israel will vacate Lebanese territory in now occupies. In the latest edition of the badlands podcast, Sciences Po scholar Karim Bitar offers a nuanced take on the deal, as well as Lebanons’s current crisis. “There is a risk of fragmentation,” he tells me. “This is why I think it would have been preferable to wait to get some leverage, Arab support, Gulf support, European support, and negotiate a more appropriate deal because this one is unlikely to lead to Hezbollah disarmament and unlikely to lead to Israeli withdrawal.”Plus, Karim and I talk about US President Donald Trump’s “crazy” plan to have Syrian forces under the command of former Al Qaeda figure Ahmad al-Sharaa move into Lebanon and disarm Hezbollah.badlands is a reader-supported podcast. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit borzou.substack.com/subscribe