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Hezbollah Reportedly Tells Iran it Would Fight Alone in Any War with Israel

This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila during Israeli bombardment on March 15, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila during Israeli bombardment on March 15, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
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Hezbollah Reportedly Tells Iran it Would Fight Alone in Any War with Israel

This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila during Israeli bombardment on March 15, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)
This picture taken from an Israeli position along the border with southern Lebanon shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila during Israeli bombardment on March 15, 2024. (Photo by Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

With ally Hamas under attack in Gaza, the head of Iran's Quds Force visited Beirut in February to discuss the risk posed if Israel next aims at Lebanon's Hezbollah, an offensive that could severely hurt Tehran's main regional partner, seven sources said.
In Beirut, Quds chief Esmail Qaani met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the sources said, for at least the third time since Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel and Israel's devastating retaliatory assault on Gaza.
The conversation turned to the possibility of a full Israeli offensive to its north, in Lebanon, the sources said. As well as damaging the group, such an escalation could pressure Iran to react more forcefully than it has so far since Oct. 7, three of the sources, Iranians within the inner circle of power, told Reuters.
Over the past five months, Hezbollah has shown support for Hamas in the form of limited volleys of rockets fired across Israel's northern border.
At the previously unreported meeting, Nasrallah reassured Qaani he didn't want Iran to get sucked into a war with Israel or the United States and that Hezbollah would fight on its own, all the sources said.
"This is our fight," Nasrallah told Qaani, said one Iranian source with knowledge of the discussions.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant indicated in February that Israel planned to increase attacks to decisively remove Hezbollah fighters from the border in the event of a Gaza ceasefire, although he left the door open for diplomacy.
For this story, Reuters spoke to four Iranian and two regional sources, along with a Lebanese source who confirmed the thrust of the meeting. Two US sources and an Israeli source said Iran wanted to avoid blowback from a Israel-Hezbollah war. All requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The US State Department, Israel's government, Tehran and Hezbollah did not respond to requests for comment.
The Beirut meeting highlights strain on Iran's strategy of avoiding major escalation in the region while projecting strength and support for Gaza across the Middle East through allied armed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, analysts said.
Qaani and Nasrallah "want to further insulate Iran from the consequences of supporting an array of proxy actors throughout the Middle East," said Jon Alterman of Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, responding to a question about the meeting.
"Probably because they assess that the possibility of military action in Lebanon is increasing and not decreasing."

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HRW: Both Warring Parties in Sudan Acquired New Weapons

Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
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HRW: Both Warring Parties in Sudan Acquired New Weapons

Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)
Women shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration on the opening day of Sudan ceasefire talks, in Geneva, on August 14, 2024. (AFP)

Both warring parties in Sudan, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have newly acquired modern foreign-made weapons and military equipment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Monday.

It called on the UN Security Council to renew and expand the arms embargo and its restrictions on the Darfur region to all of Sudan and hold violators to account.

HRW said it analyzed 49 photos and videos, most apparently filmed by fighters from both sides, posted on the social media platforms Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and X, showing weapons used or captured in the conflict.

The apparently new equipment includes armed drones, drone jammers, anti-tank guided missiles, truck-mounted multi-barrel rocket launchers, and mortar munitions, and are produced by companies registered in China, Iran, Russia and Serbia.

Although HRW did not specify how the warring parties acquired the new equipment, it noted that the Sudan conflict is one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises.

“The warring parties are committing atrocities with impunity, and the newly acquired weapons and equipment are likely to be used in the commission of further crimes,” it said.

HRW warned that the SAF and the RSF may use such weapons and equipment to continue to commit war crimes and other serious human rights violations not just in Darfur, but across the country.

It said the UN Security Council is expected to decide on September 11 whether to renew the Sudan sanctions regime, which prohibits the transfer of military equipment to the Darfur region.

The organization noted that since April 2023, the new conflict has affected most of Sudan’s states, but Security Council members have yet to take steps to expand the arms embargo to the whole country.

HRW said its findings demonstrate both the inadequacy of the current Darfur-only embargo and the grave risks posed by the acquisition of new weapons by the warring parties.

“A countrywide arms embargo would contribute to addressing these issues by facilitating the monitoring of transfers to Darfur and preventing the legal acquisition of weapons for use in other parts of Sudan,” it stressed.

The NGO said that the Sudanese government has opposed an expansion of the arms embargo and in recent months has lobbied members of the Security Council to end the sanctions regime and remove the Darfur embargo altogether.

“The prevalence of atrocities by the warring parties creates a real risk that weapons or equipment acquired by the parties would most likely be used to perpetuate serious violations of human rights and humanitarian law, harming civilians,” HRW wrote in its report.

It therefore called on the Security Council to publicly condemn individual governments that are violating the existing arms embargo on Darfur and take urgently needed measures to sanction individuals and entities that are violating the embargo.