American Prestige Special - Israel’s War on Lebanon w/ Afeef Nessouli
Mar 28, 2026
Afeef Nessouli, a journalist splitting time between Beirut and New York reporting on Lebanon. He describes Israeli airstrikes and ground invasion in southern Lebanon. He details mass displacement, damaged infrastructure and barriers to evacuation. He examines Hezbollah’s dual military and social role, shifting public opinion, weak government response, sectarian tensions, and grassroots relief efforts.
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Humanitarian Collapse From Southern Isolation
- Lebanon faces large-scale displacement and infrastructure destruction as the IDF expands ground operations and bombs bridges to isolate the South.
- Afeef Nessouli describes over a million displaced, tents lining streets, schools and stadiums used as shelters, and bridges targeted to cut off evacuation routes.
Infrastructure Strikes Function As Land Grab
- Israeli strikes targeting infrastructure and hospitals produce civilian catastrophe even when claimed as anti-Hezbollah operations.
- Nessouli emphasizes destroyed southern hospitals, killed medics, and that attacking civilian infrastructure functions as a de facto land grab.
Labeling Civilian Services Enables Illegal Violence
- Targeting Hezbollah-linked civilian services is justified differently than similar actions elsewhere, which Nessouli calls racist and illegal.
- He argues labeling hospitals or ambulances as Hezbollah infrastructure becomes a cover to justify unlawful killings and collateral damage.