Mark MacKinnon

Oh, and find me here more and more often going forward… bsky.app/profile/markma…

Bibi’s war against everyone…

@will_christou is right re the strike that injured Steve Sweeney and colleagues today. Just because an evac order has been issued it doesn’t absolve Israel of the legal and moral obligation to avoid civilian casualties. The bridge could have been hit at any other point in the day

Lebanon death toll surpasses 1,000

CNN verified. This is quite significant. Each one of these “stealth” planes cost $80 million.

One day after the French Foreign Minister raised the same idea…

Next up: US asks Iran to join anti-Iran coalition

Pete Hegseth impersonating Colin Jost…

Great cover.

A reporter for Russian Today in South Lebanon. Danger very close.

Airlines have been warned to expect cancellations and some jet fuel rationing starting next month due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz -The Times Long-haul flights may be most affected, as airlines could have trouble securing fuel for return journeys.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov makes it official: trilateral peace talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the USA are suspended (apparently indefinitely) thanks to the Iran War. I suspect Moscow and Kyiv are secretly relieved to be done with the charade. kommersant.ru/doc/8515368?tg

Remarkable story from Denmark's nat'l broadcaster. "When Danish soldiers were flown to Greenland in January...they brought explosives so they could destroy, among other things, the runways in Nuuk & Kangerlussuaq [to] prevent US mil aircraft from landing" dr.dk/nyheder/indlan…

BREAKING: European gas prices jumped more than 30% after Iranian strikes on Qatar’s LNG hub, reaching their highest level since the war began.

What 19 days of regional war looks like.

A “very bad feeling” in Kyiv as war in the Middle East absorbs attention - and Patriot missiles. Will Ukraine be the main casualty of the growing split between the U.S. and the rest of NATO? My analysis theglobeandmail.com/world/article-…

BREAKING: #Israel is set to destroy 8-10 bridges over the Litani River, severing southern #Lebanon from the remainder of the country. The legality of this imminent attack turns on the application of the principles of distinction and proportionality. A bridge will constitute a lawful military objective where, by its location or use, it makes an effective contribution to military action and its destruction offers a definite military advantage. However, where a bridge serves exclusively civilian traffic, or its military use is speculative or marginal, the presumption of civilian object status under Article 52(3) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions remains operative. Even where a bridge qualifies as a military objective, the proportionality rule imposes an independent constraint. An attack is prohibited if it may be expected to cause incidental civilian harm that would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. In the case of bridges over the Litani River, the assessment is rarely confined to the immediate effects of the strike. The foreseeable reverberating effects must be taken into account, including disruption to civilian movement, access to medical care, humanitarian relief, and essential services. This is particularly acute where the bridges constitute critical infrastructure for a civilian population, such that its destruction may isolate communities or impede evacuation and aid delivery. These longer-term consequences are not collateral in a loose sense; they form part of the proportionality calculus insofar as they are reasonably foreseeable at the time of the attack. In addition, the obligation to take feasible precautions in attack, under Article 57 of Additional Protocol I, requires a choice of means and methods that minimise civilian harm. This may include disabling rather than destroying the structure. The wholesale destruction of all bridges violates the proportionality rule. These are not isolated structures in an uninhabited landscape; they are the connective tissue of civilian life. To destroy them in their entirety is to do more than disrupt an adversary’s logistics. Even after a sleepless night in the safe room, I'm left with a troubling question, whether the anticipated military gain, however framed, can plausibly outweigh the foreseeable, and inescapably severe, harm inflicted on hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians.

BEIRUT, March 18 (Reuters) - War in Lebanon has wounded or killed the equivalent of one classroom of children daily and robbed the remainder of their sense of normalcy since it began two weeks ago, a top official of the U.N. children's agency said.

I am a US citizen & Surgeon who took care of the Boston Maraton Bombing victims in 2013. I paid for 7 years to own a small apartment in downtown #Beirut for my 3 kids to enjoy summers there. Today, #Israel reduced my dream home to rubble, with american weapons, paid by my taxes.

Entire building brought down in the middle of Beirut at 05:30 in the morning