Matt Frei

But if Iran wants to call upon Hezbollah as proxies,

to get involved in a fight on its behalf, then who's to say they won't, as they did at the beginning of this war?

So I think the whole thing is terribly fragile, to be honest.

Yeah, and Donald Trump saying on Truth Social, the United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah.

Is that a likely scenario?

Well, I mean, I'm sure that many Lebanese would agree with that, but it could be wishful thinking.

I mean, Hezbollah isn't just a kind of terrorist group that's been imposed on Lebanon from the outside.

I mean, to some extent it is, but it's also enmeshed in Lebanese society.

Lebanon has a Shiite community and Hezbollah are very much

doesn't just defend them and speak for them, but also provides schools for them and kindergartens and all sorts of other social services that the Lebanese government traditionally hasn't provided.

So Hezbollah, thanks to the Shia community in different parts of Lebanon, is part of Lebanese society.

They have several members in the Lebanese parliament.

They have two members of the 24-member cabinet are Hezbollah.

it's not a bit it's not like al qaeda or isis is sort of completely extraneous alien body that can somehow be cut out and and and cast aside or cast adrift they are part and parcel of lebanese society so the only thing the only way this works

is if the Lebanese government makes peace with Hezbollah and the Israelis are on board with that.

But of course, as I said before, the truly alien and disturbing factor in all this is what do the Iranians want?

I mean, Hezbollah is the most important part of their so-called ring of fire, which has been massively depleted thanks to the Israelis and the Americans.

But it's still there and they're still firing rockets as they did only yesterday.

And I can't imagine that Iran would want to give that up easily.

I can't imagine that Hezbollah would cut ties with Tehran.