| Enjoying this newsletter? Get it in your inbox every weekend, as well as our daily round-up of The Economist’s best journalism, by signing up for free here. Hello from London, Wars have turning-points. The death of Hassan Nasrallah (read our profile of him), killed in Beirut by an Israeli strike on September 27th, is one. Hizbullah, the powerful Shia militia that he led for more than 30 years, is taking blow after devastating blow from Israeli attacks across Lebanon. Several other leading figures in the group have been killed in the past week—as well as probably hundreds of civilians. The militia is in such disarray that it is too early to speculate how it might retaliate. But responses will come. These will reshape both Lebanon (from where we report today on the reaction of ordinary Beirutis) and the wider region. I’m focused on Iran. Hizbullah’s strength is drawn, mostly, from its role as a proxy for the regime in Tehran. The more that Israel batters the militia—having spent the past year fighting Hamas, another Iranian proxy, in Gaza—the more pressure there will be on Iran to strike back. Iran’s own leaders must be watching with consternation. Might they judge that this is the moment to escalate, to build up more deterrence, say by moving to develop nuclear weapons? Another war, meanwhile, may also be reaching a turning-point. Our editor-in-chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, has just returned from a remarkable trip with colleagues to Ukraine. The war is going badly. Liste... |
