# Iran Forces Israel To Backpedal in Lebanon w/ Mohamad Hasan Sweidan

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483/iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal-in-lebanon-w-mohamad-hasan-sweidan
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483/iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal-in-lebanon-w-mohamad-hasan-sweidan.md
Podcast: [Useful Idiots with Katie Halper and Aaron Maté](https://stenobird.com/podcast/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483)
Published: 2026-04-24T15:53:38+00:00
Episode link: https://www.usefulidiotspodcast.com/p/iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal-in
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/195355754/1f6a98a89e762fc4c695d615ca5c5a8f.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483/episodes/iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal-in-lebanon-w-mohamad-hasan-sweidan
Duration seconds: 3358

## Resource

This interview is not paywalled so it can be heard by everyone. Support our work and get the ad-free version here . Subscribers get Katie and Aaron’s recap of the craziest moments on corporate media this week: This week we’re looking at the latest in Trump’s regime-change war on Iran and how it’s spilled over into Lebanon, where Israel has just killed another journalist, Amal Khalil. Khalil was assassinated in a “double tap” strike while she was reporting in South Lebanon: the Israelis first hit her car, and then the house she fled to in an attempt to seek refuge. Israeli soldiers then blocked rescue workers from reaching her and she died under the rubble. She is the latest in the hundreds of journalists who have been targeted and killed by Israel since October 7th. To discuss Amal Khalil, the broader regime-change war in Iran, and why Israel is “afraid” of invading Lebanon, we speak with Mohamad Hasan Sweidan, researcher and academic based in Beirut. Useful Idiots: What explains Hezbollah’s resilience? They lost their leader, they suffered very big setbacks with the pager attacks, and lost their land bridge in Syria, through which they could receive arms from Iran. But yet on the ground in Lebanon, they’re still able to fight toe-to-toe with Israel and impose serious costs, to the point where now Israel is afraid of invading and engaging in another land war. So what explains how Hezbollah, which many people thought was on its last legs, has been able to persevere and still be effective militarily? Mohamad Hasan Sweidan: There are three main reasons. Number one is ideology. Hezbollah has a very strong religious ideology that doesn’t believe in backing off. It believes it should continue fighting the oppressor until the end. Number two is that Hezbollah doesn’t have a c…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483/episodes/iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal-in-lebanon-w-mohamad-hasan-sweidan/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/useful-idiots-with-katie-halper-and-aaron-mat-1429483/iran-forces-israel-to-backpedal-in-lebanon-w-mohamad-hasan-sweidan.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.