The Long War Journal

Iran’s nuclear program is in ruins, but the threat is far from dead. Deputy Director of FDD's Non-Proliferation Program Andrea Stricker and Bill Roggio dive into the desperate gamble Tehran is making at the negotiating table with the US — and the terrifying chemical contingency they might be holding in reserve.

On May 6, Israel conducted its first strike in the greater Beirut metropolitan area since the onset of a ceasefire on April 16. The strike targeted an apartment building in Dahiyeh, and one of the alleged fatalities was Ahmad Ghaleb Ballout, whom Israel claimed was the newest leader of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force commando unit.

Protests erupted in Hasaka in eastern Syria after authorities replaced Kurdish and Arabic on a government billboard with English and Arabic, angering local residents. The incident reflects broader tensions as Damascus seeks to reassert control over eastern Syria following agreements with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

North Korea has launched dozens of missiles since the start of 2026. The regime is displaying increasingly lethal long-range fires capabilities that have been enabled, in no small part, by Russian security assistance.

The world’s most vital trade artery is under siege. As the US launches "Project Freedom" to break the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, global shipping remains in a chokehold. This week, Bill Roggio sits down with shipping expert Sal Mercogliano to break down the stalemate, the dual blockade, and the massive economic ripple effects threatening the global supply chain.

Iran has intensified attacks on Kurdish Iranian opposition groups in northern Iraq, targeting camps linked to the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran and Komala with drones in early May. The strikes are part of a broader campaign by Iran and its allied militias against Kurdish groups operating in the Kurdistan Region.

During the renewed conflict with Israel, Hezbollah has increasingly relied on an arsenal of first-person view (FPV) drones that it amassed and developed over the 15 months of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. These drones, which are guided by fiber-optic cables instead of radio, are proving effective against Israeli forces because they are hard to intercept and detect, and the IDF was unprepared to deal with this threat.

On May 5, Syrian authorities said that security forces dismantled a Hezbollah-linked militant network operating across multiple governorates, arresting 11 operatives, seizing weapons, and foiling planned assassinations.

Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists continued to violate the Gaza ceasefire toward the end of April and beginning of May, according to Israeli military reports. Hamas remains adamant that it will not even begin to discuss disarmament before a complete IDF withdrawal from the territory.

Tehran is shifting the battlefield from missiles to markets, turning the Strait of Hormuz into leverage and testing whether Washington will trade long-term strategy for short-term relief. Bill Roggio and Behnam Ben Taleblu discuss.