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Radio War Nerd EP #589 — Hezbollah Rising, feat. Cyrus (Patreon)

Published:
2026-03-13 17:25:39
Edited:
2026-03-13 17:25:42
Imported:
2026-03

Downloads

Content

Guest: "Cyrus", MENA researcherRecorded: March 12, 2026

Cyrus joins us to discuss why Hezbollah entered the war against Israel now, Lebanon politics, Syria under the former leader of Al Qaeda's branch, Iraq's pro-Iran militia groups, and more. (Beirut, along with the rest of Lebanon, is being bombed by Israel, so the connection is a bit spotty at times - nothing the mighty War Nerd Legion can't manage.)

Further listening with Cyrus:-EP #543 — Syria, Hezbollah & Palestine-Israel, feat. Cyrus-EP #509 — Jolani & The Making of Syrian Sunni Ethno-Supremacism-EP #487 — Israel-Hezbollah Ceasefire + Syria Collapse-EP #478 — Israel's War on Lebanon

Total time: 1:44:22Direct link to this episode's mp3 here

*

Buy & review John Dolan's new book, They Should Have Been Hanged: War Nerd Essays on the U.S. Civil War

Subscribe to Radio War Nerd at patreon.com/radiowarnerd

Sound production by Telescope Audio

Files

Comments

Wawaweewa

Lebanon’s flag is undeniably one of the best 🇱🇧 it also sounds like LibAnon which could be something

Real-Life NPC

LibAnon sounds like a term that the TrueAnon podcast would use to refer to RussiaGate.

Master and Commander Biden

LibAnon would be a set of personas they’d adopt for a cold open to make fun of RussiaGate commentators for sure

ggmacd

new subscriber / long admirer of RWN here. I have family in southern Beirut (displaced since day 2), and Lebanon hasn't been getting enough coverage, so thank you for this episode.

Ander Pierce

Really great and illuminating interview.

Ismael Hamadi

Fantastic depth and breadth of insight from Cyrus as usual.

William

Two things: 1) Iran, please please please threaten Europe unless they kick isreal out of Eurovision 2) I love macron’s stupid, “The French are on their way!” Bullshit that he pulls out anytime there’s an international incident. Like, dawg, nobody thinks you’re doing shit and nobody thinks you’re a player on the world stage

N

Hes trying to act like its still the 1890s or something meanwhile the response to his pronouncements is usually just a shrug lol

ThatAintChocolate

There isn’t anything more informative and educational than a Cyrus episode on war nerd. You guys are one of the only lifelines of sanity during all this and cannot tell you how much its appreciated to have. And thank you Cyrus for coming on and giving your perspective and insight despite the hell going on around you.

Master and Commander Biden

I can’t think of any more comically stupid result to this than a drone or a non-magnetic mine scuttling the De Gaulle

Sean Enright

Not that Hegseth is paying attention or knows how to read, but it’s interesting the timing of the de facto creation of these free-fire zones in Lebanon and his declaration of “no quarter” for Iranians is of a piece.

GC

Cyrus displayed true poise and ice water veins by laying out sentence after sentence of clear, detailed, thoughtful analysis from a city that's under imperial bombardment. I can't think or speak or think that clearly under ideal circumstances. Both illuminating and genuinely moving. Stay safe over there, man. We need you.

George P

I just can’t get over the depth of knowledge Cyrus has, the man is citing the exact dates so many of these events happened off the top of his head! Incredible guest as always.

a clash of purple

I'll be honest: as much as I deeply despise Trump and disagree with his policies, etc., it is incredibly satisfying to watch him bully the Europeans. They're so servile and cucked, it really is nauseating.

JoR

Don’t wanna speak too soon but we have to consider making one of those “apology form” templates. To: Hezbollah. from: Dr. John Dolan lol

Hans Anders

The Dutch aren’t joining the case on the side of SA. They’re submitting an interpretation of the genocide convention without explicitly attributing blame on Israel. It’s pretty weak and mostly a bone thrown to the leading liberal party in the coalition.

Hans Anders

Somebody referred to him as geopolitical Jordan Peterson. In the end I think that’s an apt comparison.

David Haigh

Hmm, I can see it! That would give me hope, but geopolitics is probably about as crazy as Jordan Peterson now

Benjamin Glover

"I'll talk to you in the next war" lol Cyrus

Alex

So like, with the nuclear weapons thing… are we still in agreement that this would mean the end of all human life on earth and possibly all life on earth whatsoever?

Master and Commander Biden

Unfortunately the way things are going it would probably be something much stupider than even extinction

blazed uncle

I really enjoy how Cyrus can casually drop a “this senior Hezbollah guy was telling me”

simon

The Dutch officially don't 'support' the war but we 'understand the reasons' for the war. Which falls somewhere between being huge pussies and being a gaslighting boyfriend. "Of course it's terrible that your friend was assaulted, disgusting. But you have to admit she was kind of asking for it right?"

Master and Commander Biden

I have my doubts about him. Caught a video that was interesting about the surge in Chinese political prowess globally and the inability of the West to properly estimate their ability. Then like a month or two later I clicked another video and he’s talking about how black people and Latinos in the US cheat the system and how good hard working Chinese students are losing as a result because they only know how to do things honestly. And he’s framing it as a like compliment or in the sense of “and according to game theory the blacks and latinos are doing it well” but it was done in such a sort of absurdly backhanded and retrograde way that it really triggered my alarm for making sure I don’t let my Gell-Mann Amnesia take over.

Javier

Was surprised to listen that Turkey's army is bigger and even more sophisticated than Iran's. Always thought it was the opposite. I do know that Turkey has a local company making killer drones (Lethal Autonomous Weapons). Are they also big in ballistic missiles and suicide drones?

Billy Gray

This is incredible, thank you Cyrus and John and Mark for bringing us this. Out of all the recent episodes monitoring the situation, I want very badly to share this one in particular with some friends (or maybe a for-public edit?) just wanted to throw that out there.

Jelle Haandrikman

That was a great interview. I wonder what Israel tries to achieve in Lebanon. Or is everyone just in panic mode. The observation that Iran supports Russia against Ukraine to keep NATO out of the Middle-East makes things really complex. Which puts Europe in a real tight spot. Support Ukraine and antagonize Russia and Iran. Or negotiate with Iran to get shipping going again and make it harder for Ukraine to survive.

Jelle Haandrikman

The liberal party in the coalition could either be VVD (conservative liberal money makers) or D66 (socialist liberals kinda). It's really bad how D66 sold out to the conservative parties in this coalition.

Hans Anders

Indeed Jelle. By liberal I referred to D66

David Haigh

Can't wait to shoehorn Gell-man amnesia into every convo I have for the foreseeable future. Ty. I think that's a fair appraisal cos he's so right often yet so flippant at the same time. "Chinese Nostradamus" is what I think ill put my personal conviction as for now.

SCOOP

I watched a couple clips by this guy I thought were interesting, but I went to his page and started one of his latest uploads and it was essentially "Jews run the world" protocols of Zion stuff. After checking a few more of his videos and googling, I think he is not actually a professor and is not actually in front of a class in those videos. (The students never speak in any of the videos, although he gestures and speaks to them sometimes) So my ruling is: crank

David Haigh

Yeah I agree lots of it feels offz and not AI off (I hope, or god help us all). But what does he crank, and for whom does he crank it...? Of my friends who'd seen it in pretty sure they'd come at it from a rather more 'bro' side of the algorithm than I had, which got me curious.

L

Imperialism will destroy us all if the workers of the world do not unite and begin the global socialist revolution

janedoe8265

In the future, if you know there are going to be connection issues, don't record the call itself (or don't use the call recording as the one you post) - have each participant record themselves on their computer or laptop, then put the recordings together in your audio editing software. If you have a recording of the call as well you can use it to mark the correct positions for the individual voice channels

Jason Thompson

Something I don’t understand is: how can the president & prime minister of Lebanon even say this stuff, responding to an Israeli invasion with “our first priority is disarming Hezbollah NOW!” Without even pretending to “unite in the face of this crisis” etc? Is this like a Repubs & Dems split on the USA where the two sides share political office but openly hate each other and each other’s constituencies? What is going on?

Jason Thompson

How do these assholes react to charges of serving a foreign power? Are they totally insulated from this? Do they just say “well Hezbollah is a servant of a foreign power”?

JoR

This is not to defend the ruling elite there at all, but it may be a survival thing. Personally, politically, and even their constituents. Hezbollah acts rationally, if/when the Lebanese government goes against them, usually they seem to make a deal. With Israel, they’re clearly willing and able to just endlessly bomb and kill when you’re openly against them

Ezra de Leon

Not to be nitpicky but isn't iftar the meal after the fast and suhoor is the one that happens in the early morning?