Origins of the U.S.-Israeli Bombing Campaign

A fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire took hold this week as President Donald Trump insisted that the U.S. warships and troops deployed to the Middle East for the war will remain in the region.

Meanwhile, Iran’s speaker of parliament Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf will reportedly join Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in leading talks in Islamabad with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Ghalibaf reiterated that “Lebanon and the entire Resistance Axis, as Iran’s allies, form an inseparable part of the ceasefire,” following Israel’s massive bombardment of Lebanon on Wednesday just hours after the ceasefire was announced, which left more than 300 people dead and over 1,150 wounded.

Drop Site’s Ryan Grim, Jeremy Scahill, Murtaza Hussain, and Sharif Abdel Kouddous unpack the context around the ceasefire agreement, the attack on Lebanon, and what it all portends for the U.S. and the region. Lebanese journalist Lylla Younes talks about witnessing Wednesday’s brutal bombardment of Beirut, and Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed remembers his colleague Mohammed Samir Washah, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher who was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike near Gaza City on Wednesday.