Mohamad Bazzi

@mbazzi.bsky.social

3569 Followers 279 Following

NYU journalism professor | Director, NYU Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies | Guardian US columnist | Former Middle East bureau chief, Newsday. https://journalism.nyu.edu/about-us/profile/mohamad-bazzi/

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun shakes hands with Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House today
Photo of Palestinian intellectual Ghassan Kanafani, holding a pen in one hand, and a cigarette in the other
Chart (in Arabic) from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, showing the number of deaths and injured: Overview of Israeli War in Lebanon 2026: Deaths and Injuries from 02/03/2026 to 04/07/2026
Screenshot of text extract from Guardian article: "Trump has more incentive to impose limits on Netanyahu, after the Israeli leader spent months persuading Trump to launch a war aimed at toppling the Iranian regime. But the gambit backfired as Iran withstood weeks of severe bombing by the US and Israel, two of the world's most powerful militaries. Tehran also retaliated with missile strikes against American military bases across the Middle East; it targeted the energy infrastructure of its Gulf neighbors; and it threatened to trigger a global recession by closing the strait of Hormuz. Trump doesn't like to admit any failure, and he may eventually blame his botched Iran war on Netanyahu. But to do so, Trump needs an agreement with Tehran that allows him to declare victory and move on from the conflict. And that deal will be at risk as long as Israel continues its war in Lebanon."
Chart from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, showing the number of deaths and injured: Overview of Israeli War in Lebanon 2026: Deaths and Injuries from 02/03/2026 to 20/06/2026
Screenshot of tweet from X: Green water flows from an outflow pipe as crews remove algae in the Reflecting Pool REUTERS/ Aaron Schwartz
Book cover showing a shouting Donald Trump, with the headline: “The Boy who Cried Peace Deals”
Photograph of Samir Kassir, the Lebanese-Palestinian journalist and intellectual. He is sitting in a chair at his home editing a manuscript. He is holding a pen in one hand, and a cigarette in the other.
Twitter/X screenshot of CNN news headline with photo of Israeli soldiers outside Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military has captured the Crasader-era Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon, a site it hasn't held for 26 years, as it expands its incursion deeper into its neighbor's territory.
Screenshot of chart produced by Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health: Overview of Israeli War in Lebanon 2026: Deaths and Injuries from 02/03/2026 to 25/05/2026.
Screenshot of New York Times opinion article, headlined: "Iran Is Trolling Us and Were Not Doing Anything About It" May 25, 2026 Under the headline is an illustration of a missile that is about to launch.
Screenshot of tweet by Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa. Full text of tweet: "Some meetings leave an impression; ours apparently left a fragrance. Thank you, Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, for your generosity and for topping up this precious gift. May the spirit of that meeting continue to shape a stronger relationship between Syria and the United States."
Screenshot of a tweet by Lebanon's Foreign Minister Youssef Raggi. Full text: "I followed up, in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, on the issue of the plaque attached to the memorial in New York dedicated to commemorating the first Lebanese immigrants, after it included an ambiguous description of the identity of some of Lebanon’s most prominent Mahjar writers, notably Gibran Khalil Gibran, Mikhail Naimy, Ameen Rihani, and Elia Abu Madi. I gave my instructions to Lebanon’s Ambassador in Washington and the Consul General of Lebanon in New York to carry out the necessary contacts with the relevant authorities, with the aim of correcting the text in a way that is consistent with the known historical, cultural, and geographical facts, and that confirms the original and authentic Lebanese origins of these writers, who formed a main part of Lebanon’s cultural heritage in the world. I also stressed the importance of preserving accuracy in documenting the contributions of the pioneers of the Lebanese diaspora, because of the literary and civilizational value they represent in the national memory and in the particularity of the Lebanese identity."
Screeshot of Al Jazeera English website headline, showing a funeral procession in Gaza today. The headline reads: Three community kitchen workers among five killed by Israel in Gaza Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 871 Palestinians since the so-called ceasefire began last year.
Front page of French daily newspaper Liberation showing large scale destruction with the headline: “How Israel is wiping Southern Lebanon off the map”
Aerial view of large scale destruction inflicted on the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, with an Israeli tank parked in the center of the photo.
Text of screenshot: Lebanon death toll in two months of Israeli attacks reaches 2,659 Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health has provided the latest casualty figures since the start of Israeli attacks on Lebanon exactly two months ago. Between March 2 and May 2, Israeli attacks across Lebanon killed 2,659 people and wounded 8,183, the ministry said. It added 41 people were killed and 11 others wounded in Israeli raids over the past 24-hour reporting period.
Extracted text from Guardian article, headlined: "Is this what war looks like now?" "Is this what war looks like now? Our world has changed over the past two and half years. In the weeks after the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, Israel set in motion a machinery of genocide - largely enabled by unwavering US support and powered by impunity and denial - against Gaza, unleashing one of the most destructive military campaigns targeting civilians in modern times. Israel has repeated the Gaza playbook in its war on Lebanon: intense aerial bombardment and illegal mass evacuation orders that lead to the large-scale displacement of civilians; the destruction of civilian infrastructure and border towns to make way for so-called "buffer zones" occupied by Israeli troops; the targeting of hospitals and healthcare workers; and the killing of journalists. And, as it did with Gaza, the west largely looks on with indifference. Gaza represents a new pinnacle for this type of wholesale destruction as a military strategy, of using overwhelming and disproportionate force against civilians and infrastructure. But the seed of this strategy was planted two decades ago - in a previous Israeli war on Lebanon. That war resulted in Israel's Dahiyeh doctrine, which calls for the deliberate targeting of civilians and infrastructure as a means of collective punishment that seeks to turn local populations against armed militias. That doctrine played out in full force in Lebanon - and also has made multiple rhetorical appearances in Donald Trump's threats to destroy societies and civilizations on a large scale."
Front page of Lebanon’s L’Orient Le Jour newspaper, with a photo of the Israeli flag flying over a town in southern Lebanon. The headline: “The Nakba of South Lebanon”
Aerial view of large scale devastation inflicted on the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, with an Israeli tank parked in the center of the photo.
Scene of destruction in southern Lebanon, with two Israeli tanks in the foreground moving along demolished homes and buildings. Text Block: THE LRB PODCAST The War in Lebanon With Adam Shatz, Joelle Abi-Rached and Mohamad Bazzi
Infographic (in Arabic) from Lebanon's Public Health Emergency Operation Center showing the number of Lebanese killed and wounded since Israel intensified its attacks on March 2nd. 2020 people killed 6436 people injured
Photo of a seafront section of Beirut being bombed by Israeli forces during the Israeli invasion of 1982. Buildings in the background, and a ferris wheel in the foreground.
Text extract from Guardian article: "For two years after the October 2023 attacks, Netanyahu undermined ceasefire talks with Hamas in Gaza and blocked potential deals by adding new conditions or changing his mind at the last minute. He also tried to stall negotiations by assassinating Hamas leaders involved in the talks, and even ordered a brazen Israeli airstrike on Hamas officials meeting in Qatar, a US ally, to consider a ceasefire proposal that had been submitted by Israel and Washington. Despite Netanyahu's obstinance, Israel continued to receive unconditional political support and tens of billions of dollars in US weapons, under both Joe Biden's administration and Trump's. Is it any surprise that Netanyahu concluded that Israel can bomb virtually anyone and anywhere in the Middle East, with impunity? By late 2025, Israel had attacked Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar and Yemen that year - without losing the flow of US weapons or Washington's political cover at the United Nations and other international institutions. Of course, Israel's genocidal war on Gaza, which killed at least 70,000 Palestinians and instigated a famine, paved the way for Israel to flout international law."
Evacuation order (in Arabic) by the Israeli military for residents of multiple neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs
Screenshot from Twitter. Iran's foreign minister writes: "The Iran-U.S. Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the U.S. must choose-ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments."
Infographic from Lebanon's Public Health Emergency Operation Center (PHEOC) on the number of Lebanese killed and wounded since Israel intensified its attacks on March 2nd. 1530 Killed 4 812 Wounded (As of 07 APRIL 2026)
Screenshot of a tweet by DC think tank expert Ellen Wald on Trump's threats to Iran: "Yes, this is bombastic & 'not presidential' but come on, is anything Trump says or writes on social media appropriate? But this isn't meant for anyone except the Iranian regime. He is speaking to them in their language. Markets, take from this what you will."
Quoted text from Guardian article: But since last summer, Kushner has re-emerged as a high-level peace envoy for Trump, helping broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza; steering negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine; and, most recently, playing a central role in the aborted negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear program. Kushner still doesn’t hold an official government position – he’s a private citizen who has been negotiating some of the most important foreign policy agreements on behalf of the Trump administration, with a direct line to the president. And Kushner is once again trying to solicit foreign investments for his firm, Affinity Partners, which he largely built with billions of dollars in funding from three authoritarian Arab states and US allies: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In recent months, as he continued his freelance diplomacy for the Trump administration, Kushner has approached investors, including foreign governments that have an interest in his diplomatic work, about securing at least $5 billion in new financing for his company, according to the New York Times.
Chart and map from the Lebanese Ministry of Health showing the total number of those killed and injured since Israel began its latest attacks on Lebanon on 2 March 2026.
Photo of Mohamad Bazzi, DAWN fellow and journalism professor at New York University, accompanying the following quote on Israel's war in Lebanon: “Israel is repeating the Gaza playbook in its war on Lebanon: large-scale displacement of civilians, destroying infrastructure, targeting hospitals and healthcare workers, and killing journalists. And the world has become numb to Lebanese loss and suffering.”