Love me some Pepe. Pepe Escobar and first met last December, during my first trip to Moscow. We were instant friends. When I arrived in Moscow in the midst of a record-breaking snowstorm, I was standing in line waiting to check in to the hotel and noticed that the man in front of me looked remarkably like Pepe Escobar. The man turned, looked at me, and then said, “Oh my God! You’re Larry Johnson.” And I said, “You look like Pepe Escobar.” He laughed with his iconic good cheer and we immediately agreed to meet for drinks and a snack. This was the birth of a dear friendship.

 

BY LARRY JOHNSON

 

Apart from Alastair Crooke, an icon in his own right, I could think of no one better than Pepe with whom to mull over the implications of Iran finally delivering on its promise to retaliate against Israel for the murder of Ismail Haniyeh. Most of the Western media is reporting the Iranian attack as “unprovoked.” Just one more example of the corruption and lies that undergird the so-called free press in the West.

There was a lot of behind-the-scenes action, in Israel and in Tehran, that the media is ignoring. The biggest story, one that Pepe brought to light, is the internal ruckus in Iran pitting President Pezeshkian against Ayatollah Khameni. Pezeshkian admitted that he was bamboozled by the West, naively believing that if Iran held back from launching retaliatory missiles at Israel, that Netanyahu would stop the slaughter of Palestinians and that a ceasefire would come to pass.

Instead, the promised ceasefire was a deadly trap. According to Lebanon’s foreign minister, Nasrallah had agreed to call a ceasefire and was meeting with an Iranian General to discuss the matter when both were assassinated. Richard Steven Hack has written a good piece explaining how it appears that the ceasefire proposal was a ruse to entrap and murder Nasrallah. This is just one of the issues Pepe and I discuss.

Well, the waiting is over and Israel — acting much like Ukraine did before the start of its June 2023 counteroffensive — after announcing it was going to put ground forces into Lebanon, finally pulled the trigger. Were it not for the fact that this escalation is going to lead to needless death and suffering, I would be amused by the term, “limited.” No such thing. That’s like saying, “I’m almost pregnant.” You either are or you are not. If I recall correctly, Vietnam started off as a “limited” military engagement. How did that work out?

What is Israel’s military objective? Just put some troops inside Lebanon? Destroy Hezbollah’s fortified emplacements? Advance to the Litani River? It appears that Israel’s blood-crazed leaders have convinced themselves that they have weakened Hezbollah’s command-and-control capabilities and will be able to move quickly through difficult terrain and face little opposition. I think they are making an historic mistake, driven by hubris and arrogance.

I make the point in each of the three videos posted below, that Israel failed to defeat Hamas in a tiny area of 141 square miles — 25 miles long and 5.6 miles wide — after 12 months of combat against lightly armed defenders. Now, Israel wants you to believe that it can make quick work in an area that is 2.5 times larger than Gaza — 328 square miles — that is filled with hills, mountains and valleys.

Hezbollah is not sitting on its hands, cowering in fear. Hezbollah reports the following actions just today:

1- Targeted an Israeli infantry force at the Al-Sadah site with artillery shells, achieving direct hits.

2- Targeted the Naoura base with a salvo of Fadi 2 rockets in response to the barbaric Israeli invasion of cities, villages and civilians.

3- Targeted the occupied city of Safad with a rocket barrage in response to the barbaric Israeli invasion of cities, villages and civilians.

4- Targeted the settlement of Gesher Haziv with a rocket barrage, in response to the barbaric Israeli attacks on cities, villages and civilians.

5- Targeted the Sa’ar settlement with a rocket barrage, in response to the barbaric Israeli attacks on cities, villages and civilians.

6- Targeted the settlement of Kabri with a rocket salvo, in response to the barbaric Israeli attacks on cities, villages and civilians.

7- Targeted the Kfar Giladi settlement with a Noor missile.

8- At 15:35, a gathering of Israeli soldiers in Beit Sida was targeted with rockets.

9- Targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the Yiftah settlement with rockets and hit them.

10- Targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the Al-Zaourah military base with a rocket salvo.

11- Targeted a number of ballistic missiles northeast of Haifa with a salvo of Fadi 1 rockets, in response to the barbaric Israeli attacks on cities, villages and civilians.

12- At 23:20, the movements of Israeli enemy soldiers in the orchards opposite the towns of Adaisseh and Kfar Kila were targeted with appropriate weapons, achieving confirmed hits.”

Expect more of the same in the coming days and weeks.

Israel tried this stunt in 2006 and Hezbollah fought it to a standstill, with Israel having to retreat. This time, Hezbollah is armed with rockets, missiles, drones and artillery that it did not have in 2006. Unlike the “easy” time Israel had bombing defenseless people in Gaza, Israel is going to face stiff opposition.

I want to clarify the specious claim that “Iran is the major sponsor of terrorism,” by reposting a graph from my previous post, Exploding Myths of Middle East Terrorism.

Not a single one of these groups is being funded, trained or armed by Iran. That is five years of data. Claiming Iran of massive sponsor of terrorism is debunked by the simple fact that the most active organizations accused of carrying out terrorist attacks by the U.S. Department of State (using statistical data collected by NCTC) are not creatures of Iran. Iran’s crime is that it supports Hezbollah and Hamas. As I reported in my article on “Myths,” the data collected and disseminated by the Israeli Foreign Ministryshows that both groups have been involved in relatively few “terrorist” attacks inside Israel over the last 24 years. When you compare the number of Israelis killed by Palestinian “terrorist” attacks with the number of Palestinian civilians killed by Israel, Israel has an eight-to-one advantage.

Using terrorism as an excuse to kill civilians is terrorism.

I started the day discussing this issue with the Judge. We had some technical glitches. At first, I thought it was my internet (I had to install a temporary WiFi system because my fiber optic cable was cut accidentally). But it was the Judge’s system that was overloaded. Still, I was able to make my key points.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TLGifNu-XZI%3Ffeature%3Doembed

I was able to have a more detailed discussion with Nima regarding the start of the Israeli ground operation and the current state of Hezbollah after the recent casualties of several key leaders.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=aRvh4bvKj5U%3Fstart%3D2606%26feature%3Doembed

Then there is Ukraine. Remember that war? Danny Davis and I “dive deep” on the military realities plaguing Ukraine and favoring Russia.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=09dtElhJZN0%3Ffeature%3Doembed

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