Almost makes your head spin—then you realize this is Iran, tying two (it has many) of its important proxies together, in a confused but real effort to release Sinwar and figure out how to replace Nasrallah.  “Iran open to cease-fire efforts in Lebanon — if Israel stops bombing Gaza,” Politico, 10-5-24.  BTW, this story carries the rare example of an exception within an exception to the international law humanitarian standard for not attacking non-military targets—the IDF struck Hezbollah operatives at a command center inside a mosque in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, within the Martyr Salah Ghandour Hospital compound.  What’s next for Hamas or Hezbollah to violate under the laws of war?  Maybe a Red Crescent office within a school within a mosque within a hospital?

“Benny Gantz: What the World Needs to Understand About Iran,” NYT, 10-5-24.  “Iran’s religious leadership is devoted to exporting its fundamentalist ideology, driven by the pursuit of hegemony and captivated by the thought of its opponents’ violent subjugation. I ask that other nations not make the same mistake we made and underestimate this component of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s calculus.”