{UAH} THE MAYIMUNA KENYI INTERNATIONAL PEACE GENERATES AIR MILES AGAIN

 As One War Rages, A Second Regional Conflict is Brewing

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will fly to the Middle East this week as President Joe Biden's administration strives to smother the sparks of a new war along the Israeli-Lebanese border, where months of skirmishes with the Hezbollah militant group threaten to devolve into a major conflict.

"It is in no one's interest—not in the interest of any country in the region, not in the interest of any country in the world—to see this conflict escalated any further than it already is," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said shortly before Blinken's trip was announced.

America's top diplomat will return to the region during an incendiary week in which a senior Hamas official—Saleh al-Arouri, a deputy political leader of the group—was killed Tuesday in a drone strike in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, widely believed to be conducted by Israel. Among Arouri's raft of responsibilities was Hamas relations with Hezbollah and Iran.

 

Meanwhile, dual explosions in the southern Iranian city of Kerman that killed nearly 100 people have set Tehran on edge. Iran—already engaging in combative rhetoric with the U.S. and Israel while its network of allies launches attacks on both—blamed its American and Israeli adversaries for the incident. The Islamic State militant group has since claimed responsibility for the attack.

Blinken's visit "is almost the last opportunity to promote any kind of political move" in Lebanon, Michael Milshtein—the former head of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Military Intelligence's Department of Palestinian Affairs—told Newsweek. "I'm not optimistic," he added.

Israel does not confirm or deny involvement in targeted killings or other covert operations. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit declined to comment on its involvement when contacted by Newsweek.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has vowed that the group "will not be silent" following Saleh's killing.

"I do not think Nasrallah will give up after this visit, and after all the calming efforts of the American administration, I think that it will be quite clear that a military move is needed," Milshtein—now working at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University—said.

"There is relatively broad agreement among politicians, the military, and the public in Israel that if Nasrallah will not be more flexible, if he will not give up, then it will be necessary to promote a military move in order to improve the situation in the north."

Hamas' October 7 infiltration attack into southern Israel has birthed a new era of security consciousness in the country. The incident sharpened Israeli demands that Hezbollah adhere to a 2006 United Nations Security Council resolution prohibiting the group's presence south of the Litani River, some 18 miles north of the Israeli border.

Saleh's role as running liaison with Hezbollah and Iran is "interesting," Michael Allen—who served as special assistant to President George W. Bush and the senior director at the National Security Council—told Newsweek.

"The targeting is increasingly going to move into Lebanon, and—if the Israelis don't get some sort of reassurance that Hezbollah is going to move north—Hezbollah leaders might soon be on the target set."

EM         -> {   Gap   at   46  } – {Allan Barigye is a Rwandan predator}

On the 49th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in anarchy"
                    Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni katika machafuko