A New Year, a New War

Summary

Reveal – "A New Year, a New War"

Date: March 21, 2026
Host: Nadia Hamdan (filling in for Al Letson)
Podcast by: The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the profound ripple effects of the U.S. and Israel’s recent war with Iran, coinciding with the Persian New Year, Nowruz. Through personal stories, expert analysis, and reporting from the Middle East and the U.S., Reveal examines how sudden escalation has transformed lives, divided communities, and become enmeshed with religious prophecy and American politics. The episode moves from Iranian families and protesters to the Christian Zionist movement in America and finally to everyday people in Lebanon and the Gulf caught in widening violence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nowruz in the Shadow of War – The Iranian Perspective

[02:21–19:33]

• Personal Reflections on Nowruz:

  • Arash Azizi, Iranian historian and writer, shares how Nowruz, usually a time of joy and rebirth, is marred by grief and anxiety this year due to war.
  • Nostalgic traditions: visiting family, receiving money, and optimism for the future now feel distant.

• Impact of War on Daily Life:

  • War erupted Feb 28, 2026, with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes across Iran, leading to mass casualties, including children, and the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
  • Iran retaliated, striking targets across the region, escalating a regional conflict.

• Azizi’s Mixed Feelings:

  • Despite opposition to Khamenei, Arash felt no joy at his death due to the tragic context: “On the same day, they killed 160 schoolgirls in Minob. … I was trying to make sure my family is alive. … This war, you know, will not go as planned.” ([15:57])

• Cycles of Hope and Repression:

  • Recalls the hopefulness of the ‘90s reform movement and the disappointment as hardliners reasserted control.
  • 2009’s Green Movement seen as the “last important historical chance … for a historic, peaceful transition to democracy,” but was brutally repressed ([11:38]).
  • Recent major unrest (2022 Mahsa Amini protests, 2025 economic crisis) also met with violence.

• Splits within Iranian Society:

  • Diaspora debates about foreign intervention and Iran’s future (monarchy, republic, foreign help).
  • “What Iran badly needs is national reconciliation. … We have a country to share.” ([17:28])

• Marking, Not Celebrating, Nowruz:

  • “There is little to celebrate this year because of all the people who've been killed … but I will definitely mark it. … Nowruz has always been a festival of resilience, of resistance, of Iranian national culture.” ([18:50])

Notable Quotes:

• “To be a political guy who doesn't have an organized political force is like being a footballer… but I don't really have a team to play with.” — Arash Azizi ([06:47])
• “It allows you to think that everything can just be renewed. But… I’m in no mood to sort of celebrate.” — Arash Azizi ([03:48])

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2. The War as Prophecy – American Evangelical and Christian Zionist Responses

[21:46–41:27]

• At Cornerstone Megachurch, Texas:

  • Pastor John Hagee frames the war as “God’s Coming Operation Epic Fury” ([22:51]), tying current events directly to Biblical prophecy.
  • Dramatic sermons and videos liken the war to the fulfillment of ancient predictions, celebrated as the prelude to the Messiah’s return.

• Christian Zionism Explained:

  • Christian Zionists (especially independent charismatics) see support for Israel and war with Iran as religious duty, not mere geopolitics.
  • Belief that Israel's 1948 founding and its defense are preconditions for Jesus’s return.
  • The mythic “Prince of Persia” demon believed to spiritually control Iran ([28:41]).

• Uncomfortable Alliance:

  • Although some Jewish organizations are wary, Christian Zionists provide sizable financial and political support to Israel.
  • Yael Eckstein, CEO of International Fellowship of Christians and Jews: “92% of its donors are Christians … I’ll take all the support I can get.” ([31:32])

• Political Power:

  • Christian Zionist organizations have tens of millions of supporters, huge financial clout ($271M raised in 2023 alone by IFCJ).
  • High-level U.S. officials (Mike Huckabee, Paula White Cain) are openly aligned with Christian Zionism.

• Fractures in the American Right:

  • Not all Trump/MAGA supporters back the war; dissent comes from voices like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.
  • Points of tension: some reject the fusion of U.S. foreign policy with religious prophecy or see it as not reflecting “true Christianity.”

Notable Quotes:

• “We stand with Israel because Israel is not a political issue, it's a Bible issue.” — Pastor John Hagee ([24:02])
• “The borders of Israel ... are a fraction of what God intends for them to have. … When the king of glory comes back, they're going to get every blessed square inch of it.” — Pastor John Hagee ([40:01])
• On Jewish–Christian Zionist alliance: “Their support is really, really useful.” — Religion scholar Matthew Taylor ([30:17])

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3. War Ripples Across the Middle East – Voices from Lebanon and Gulf

[41:27–52:35]

• The War Expands:

  • Iranian attacks stretch across the Gulf—UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar—where American military bases are targeted.
  • Everyday life disrupted: frequent alerts, children’s frightened screams after missile interceptions in Qatar (Layla Hassan, journalism professor).

• Beirut, Lebanon (Reporting by Justin Salhani):

  • City transformed, with over a million displaced following Israeli strikes and evacuation orders for Hezbollah-linked neighborhoods.
  • Daily life blends eerie normalcy with trauma: families set up makeshift shelters, children swarm documentary crews, still processing threat.
  • Powerful exchange between a displaced boy and an older man:
    “Do you like the camera?... Take that idea out of your head [about guns] and focus on the camera instead, because look where this war has gotten us.” ([46:26])

• Fear and Uncertainty:

  • Residents, including Justin, pack “go bags” as violence inches closer (“drone strike about a 10 minute walk away” [47:48]).
  • Feeling trapped in cycles of history—fear that civil conflict like the 1975-90 war may return.
  • Israeli flyers over Beirut stoke division, warn of “a new reality in Lebanon”—many simply feel powerless.

Notable Quotes:

• “We live in dystopia. We're powerless or we feel powerless.” — Justin Salhani ([44:46])
• “It talks about how the great success of Gaza is now arriving to the new reality of Lebanon. Yeah, it's madness. It's insanity.” — Justin Salhani ([52:11])
• “We don't know what's coming next.” — Justin Salhani ([52:35])

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Memorable Moments & Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “[06:47] To be a political guy who doesn't have an organized political force is like being a footballer… but I don't really have a team to play with.”—Arash Azizi
• “[15:57] Because it was not clear to me that it would lead to good results … on the same day, they killed 160 schoolgirls in Minob. … I was trying to make sure my family is alive.”
• “[24:02] We stand with Israel because Israel is not a political issue, it's a Bible issue.”—Pastor John Hagee
• “[40:01] … that little piece of real estate they have at the end of the Mediterranean is a fraction of what God intends for them to have. … they're going to get every blessed square inch of it.”—Pastor John Hagee
• “[44:46] We live in dystopia. We're powerless or we feel powerless.”—Justin Salhani
• “[46:26] … Take that idea out of your head [about guns] and focus on the camera instead, because look where this war has gotten us.”—Displaced man in Beirut
• “[52:11] It talks about how the great success of Gaza is now arriving to the new reality of Lebanon. Yeah, it's madness. It's insanity.”—Justin Salhani

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:21–19:33] – Iranian New Year in Wartime: Arash Azizi’s story, historical background, cycles of protest and repression
• [21:46–41:27] – Evangelical Christian Zionism: U.S. church reaction, prophecy, financial/political influence, friction in American right
• [41:27–52:35] – Middle East Expansion: Firsthand accounts from Qatar and Lebanon, Lebanese displacement, fear of renewed civil war

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Tone and Language

The episode maintains a human, contemplative, and investigative tone throughout. The voices ranged from Arash’s candid, sometimes mournful reflections, to the fervent, almost cinematic language of evangelical leaders, to the anxious, documentarian style of Justin reporting from Beirut. Every segment is rooted in personal stakes and the feeling of living through stark, unsettling history.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode of Reveal delivers a deeply reported, human-driven narrative of war’s far-reaching effects: from disrupting the most sacred holidays for Iranians, to inflaming apocalyptic beliefs among powerful American faith communities, to layering new trauma upon already devastated populations in Lebanon and the Gulf. It confronts listeners with uncomfortable questions about hope, division, foreign policy, and the cycles—both historical and spiritual—that seem to dictate the fate of millions. The show closes with the sobering acknowledgement that, amid war’s chaos, ordinary people struggle most to find answers—or even a sense of what tomorrow will bring.

Transcript

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[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Add a little curiosity into your routine with TED Talks Daily, the podcast that brings you a new TED Talk every weekday. In less than 15 minutes a day, you'll go beyond the headlines and learn about the big ideas shaping your future. Coming up, how AI will change the way we communicate, how to be a

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

better leader, and more. Listen to TED Talks Daily wherever you get your podcasts from the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Nadia Hamdan, filling in for al Letson. Friday, March 20th was the first day of spring in the Northern hemisphere, and according to the Persian calendar, it's the new year. Nowruz.

[Arash Azizi]

You know, my mother, for example, she never minds if I miss her birthday, but she definitely minds if I don't

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

call her Under Nowruzza, Arash Azizi says Nowruz is the biggest holiday in Iran,

[Arash Azizi]

and that's a very sort of almost a sacred moment for Iranians, but it definitely has a quasi I say quasi just because it's not linked to a religion. But you know, it's as important as religion.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

There are a lot of Nowruz traditions. One is that you try to visit everyone, family, friends, at least once during the two week holiday. You eat food, drink tea and of

[Arash Azizi]

course as a kid you get money. And that was the tradition in my times.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

What Arash remembers are the stacks of cash. The biggest bills had Ayatollah Khomeini's face on them.

[Arash Azizi]

Even though I'm not a big fan, we liked counting different how many Khomeini's we can have to have more money.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

And there's always this question of how much is this auntie going to give you? Or what about this uncle?

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Who would give you the most?

[Arash Azizi]

That's always a very hot debate. You find out who's doing well.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

That's my colleague and nosy reporter Najeeb Amini trying to follow the money.

[Arash Azizi]

I mean for me, my family was an auntie, their husband was a lawyer and we were like, wow, this is adding up, they must be doing better.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

But it's more than just gifts and money. Nauruz marks a time of rebirth.

[Arash Azizi]

Nowruz allows you to think it's almost like a revolution, right? It allows you to think that everything can just be renewed. But of course this year because of the war and because of everything that's going on, I'm in no mood to sort of celebrate.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

This year's holiday falls in the shadow of a weeks long war. One that began on February 28th when the US and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran. In just the first few days, American strikes hit targets across the country including a school, killing 175 people, the majority children. There was also an attack that killed Iran's leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had ruled over Iran for more than three decades. And Iran has retaliated, striking Israel, US military bases in the region and other targets like the Dubai airport. This hour we're looking at the ripple effects of the US and Israel's war with Iran and how it's shaping the lives of ordinary people across the globe. Najeeb has our first story.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

We are about two minutes left in this commercial and we'll come straight to you.

[Arash Azizi]

Thanks again for your patience. Of course, I'm all yours.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Arash is in the kitchen of his Brooklyn apartment waiting to be interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about Iran's new supreme leader. There's a joke going around that in Afghanistan it took the US 20 years to replace the Taliban with the Taliban, but this time in Iran, a new record. Only about a week to replace Ayatollah Khamenei. With Ayatollah Khamenei, what do we actually

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

know about his positions?

[Arash Azizi]

Well, because he has never given a public interview or a speech, there's very little we know.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

For the last few weeks, this is how Arash has spent his time, being interviewed by one journalist after another.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Thank you so much for your time today.

[Arash Azizi]

Of course. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

And then there's me sitting on the couch with his dog sleeping on my lap.

[Arash Azizi]

Dr. Najeeb, how was that? It was pretty good. You know it?

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

It is. This is interview number what of today?

[Arash Azizi]

I think probably four or five.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

So that makes me, I guess, number six. Best for last. Arash doesn't really turn down interview requests because he knows his country and he wants to share that knowledge. He's a historian, the contributing writer for the Atlantic, and the author of several books, including what Iranians Want, Women, Life, Freedom. Arash has been involved in politics from a young age. His dad was political and it meant he would sit at parties and listen to his parents discuss their plans and dreams of a different Iran. But now, living abroad in the midst of a war, he feels lost.

[Arash Azizi]

Look, I'm a political guy and I feel politically helpless, and that's terrible. You know, to be a political guy who doesn't have an organized political force is like being a footballer. Who says, I'm a footballer and I love football, but it's just one tiny problem. I don't really have a team to play with. So I feel helpless. I still do. I mean, I am an analyst. I see it here. I'll tell you what has happened. I'll try to make sense of it. But the reality is, the fate of this dear Iran that I've believed in all my life is being decided by US and Israel and by different armed factions of the regiment. Not by the Iranian people and not by the organized force of the Iranian people. And that's painful.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Arash was born in 1988. He grew up in Tehran in a middle class family. At home, he watched American cartoons and he listened to his parents talk about leftist politics. Then at school, like most Iranian kids, he chanted, death to America. How would you say in Farsi, it's like.

[Arash Azizi]

And then you'd say, what is it? Khamenei Rah bar. So like, Khamenei is the leader. What does one say? Like, I was trying to see what did it Rhyme with yes. So it's like the God is great, Khamenei is the leader. So, you know, when they force you to do that, obviously you're not going to have a fond feelings of the guy.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

But during his childhood, Arash says he and his family felt optimistic. Who could forget what happened in 1998?

[Arash Azizi]

Well, the game, some said, would never take place.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

After nearly two decades of tense relations, Iran was grouped against the US at the 1998 World Cup. The game obviously became something bigger than soccer.

[Arash Azizi]

You have to remember, Iran had only made it to the World cup once before 1978, which was before I was born. So this was the first time in my lifetime Iran had made it to the World cup in 1998. It was also a year into the reform movement in Iran. So it was a very hopeful time in Iran. So it's not just the football. Everything was so hopeful. Everything was getting better. It's surely Iran's victory now with six minutes to go.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

That general sentiment stemmed from the surprise election of reformist President Mohammed Khatami the year before. In 1997. Khatami gave many Iranians a sense that things might finally open up. People talked about freer media, more space for debate, and a political system that might slowly change from within. It felt like the future could be shaped by Iranians through elections and public pressure. Not another revolution.

[Arash Azizi]

You really felt like you were at the precept of something beautiful, like you're going on a mountain. It's difficult, but you are sure the peak is there. And you look and this beautiful thing will be in front of you. I mean, that changed quickly.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Hardliners started to push back against this kind of democratization. The government shut down newspapers, crushed student protests, and the political space that had briefly opened during the reform years slowly began to close again. Arash joined a communist political party in Iran when he was 15, which, by the way, is illegal. As a high schooler, he printed leftist zines and pamphlets calling for change. And then one day, some of his comrades got arrested and interrogated. And that's when the government put him on notice.

[Arash Azizi]

They gave me a message that if you don't leave, you'll get arrested soon.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

So he leaves and ends up in Canada with his family, which means he's not in Iran. When a huge protest movement takes over the streets.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

The protest against the election results, the

[Pastor John Hagee]

horns honking the fire.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

But they're doing this at a real risk to themselves.

[Arash Azizi]

I had done all of this work. It was a huge FOMO to not be there when this movement was happening.

[Pastor John Hagee]

Tensions grew as demonstrators armed themselves with sticks and rocks.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

Now they're vowing to keep protesting until

[Pastor John Hagee]

the results are reversed.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

This was the green movement that started in 2009, when millions of Iranians protested what they believed was a stolen presidential election between the country's hardline leadership and a reformist opponent.

[Arash Azizi]

I mean, we really thought the regime was over.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Then came a moment many people still remember. A young woman named Neda Agha Sultan shot during a protest. Her final moments were captured on video. The footage spread globally, and the government responded with a sweeping crackdown that Arash says had a lasting impact.

[Arash Azizi]

I see 2009 as the last important historical chance we had for a historic, peaceful transition to democracy, which would have been a tremendous achievement and would have been great news for Iran had it been carried out. You know, after that, things were. Things really go down.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

In the years that followed, the Islamic Republic tightened its grip. Many opposition leaders were jailed or placed under house arrest. There were some glimmers of hope, though, like when the country had a slightly more moderate president and signed a nuclear agreement with the Obama administration.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

The United States, together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

But it was short lived.

[Pastor John Hagee]

I am announcing today that the United

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

States will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. President Trump revoked the deal and intensified sanctions against Iran. During his first administration, the economy only worsened and frustration inside the country kept building. Then in 2022 came the beating, arrest and death of Mahsa Amini, a 22 year old woman who had been stopped on the street by Iran's morality police for allegedly violating the country's mandatory hijab law. Her death sparked nationwide protests under the slogan Zen Zandagi Azadi, Women, life, freedom.

[Arash Azizi]

For the first time, you had not just the rejection of the regime, but espousing of a revolutionary ideology opposing it. We want rights for women. We want life. We want freedom.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

It's not just like we don't want this. Here are the things we do want.

[Arash Azizi]

Exactly.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Once again, the government responded with force, killing hundreds and arresting thousands. And the protests eventually faded. It's a cycle, Arash says, that Iranians have lived through for decades. One wave of protest leading to the next. Another wave came just a few months ago, In December of 2025, after years of sanctions and widespread corruption. Iran's currency was in free fall and shop owners were having to change the prices in their stores multiple times a day. So they closed their stores in protest and sparked a nationwide movement.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Protesters have taken to the streets of

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Iran's capital city as the country faces

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

some of its worst economic pressures in years.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

But then the son of the former Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, who hasn't lived in the country for nearly 50 years, was suddenly everywhere, especially online. He used the 2025 protests as a political opening and posted videos urging Iranians to hold more rallies and protests. His hope, and frankly even many Iranians hope, was that this movement would overthrow the Islamic Republic. Arash watched from the US as this wave inevitably crashed into another crackdown.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Witnesses say security forces fired live ammunition from motorbikes and rooftops. They speak of massacres.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

A bloodbath.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

The Iranian government admits to killing around 3,000 people, but the D.C. based NGO, the Human Rights Activist News Agency, says nearly 7,000 people were killed. In January, President Trump told Iranian protesters that help is on its way. And then on February 28, the first bombs exploded in Tehran.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

We have a bit of breaking news

[News Reporter/Announcer]

that has just come in right now. The Iranian state media is telling the people of Iran that the Ayatollah has

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

been killed again, the death of Khomeini. How did that make you feel?

[Arash Azizi]

So I was not happy celebrating, jubilant at all the way I always thought I would be. Actually, when he was killed, it was a very grave moment. The supreme leader of Iran was killed in a foreign war.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Why wouldn't you be jubilant?

[Arash Azizi]

Because it was not clear to me that it would lead to good results in short term or even medium term. Because also on the same day, they killed 160 schoolgirls in Minob. And because on the same day, I was trying to make sure my family is alive. And because it was clear to me that this war, you know, will not go as planned. Look, there's an old Iranian poem that says, so you know, Kaveh was an old Iranian hero that saved Iran, and Alexander the Great obviously invaded our country. Right. And there's this poem that says, there will be not a Kaaba anytime soon. Let's wish for an Alexander. And I think some Iranians were wishing for an Alexander and they forgot that Alexander, he ended Iranian sovereignty.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

For a generation in Iran and across the diaspora, feelings about this war vary widely.

[Pastor John Hagee]

I just want to say thank you, Donald Trump. You're a man of your world. Thank you, Donald Trump.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

Thank you, Bibi.

[Arash Azizi]

The message is simple. Trump is war. This is not Iranian war.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

We know this is not.

[Arash Azizi]

Iranians have long been very divided. They're divided over political identity. Like, do you want the restoration of monarchy, or do you want a Democratic Republic. Whose help do you need to have? Can you get help from foreign intervention? How far would you go?

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

How does it make you feel that it's that divided?

[Arash Azizi]

Terrible. Terrible. I think what Iran badly needs is national reconciliation. Najib. I think Iranians need to realize we have a country to share. Supporters of Ayatollah Khamenei, two supporters of Reza Pahlavi, nationalist and non nationalist, leftist and right things, super devout Muslims, anti Muslim, atheists, religious minorities. We have a country to share.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

If there is a unifying thread that connects these groups, it's the celebration of Nowruz, which began on March 20. Arash says this year feels so different. He's already skipped some of the smaller traditions that bring in the new year. But he will, of course, like any good child, call his mom.

[Arash Azizi]

I'll call my mother as one of us does. I'll try to call all my family members, as many as I can in that, in a moment, you know where with the phones being down. So it won't be a celebrating noise for me, it will be a somber nurse for me and because I'm worried, not just for family and friends in Iran, but for Iran. I believe this is a historical turning point for Iran and that's the spirit in which I'll commemorate Nowruz this year.

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

You use the word commemorate and not celebrate. Why?

[Arash Azizi]

Because there is little to celebrate this year because of all the people who've been killed just in the lead up to the Nowruz in the last few weeks, probably people will be killed the moment we're celebrating Nowruz, but I will definitely mark it. And Nowruz has always been a festival of resilience, of resistance, of Iranian national culture. I was born an Iranian. I have no doubt I'll die an Iranian. And you know, I think it's not a sin to love your country and, and I love Iran and I love my country.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

That story was reported by Reveals Najeeb Amini. Multiple polls show that a majority of Americans do not support the war with Iran. And while many fear where it might lead, there is one influential group of Americans who are celebrating the war.

[Pastor John Hagee]

Today we are going to discover Bible prophecy called God's Operation Fury. He has planned for Iran in the near future.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

That's next on Reveal. Don't go anywhere.

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[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

I'm Victor Sweezy, host of the Land in Between from the Global Reporting Center. Join us on a trip to the Republic of Georgia, a country at the crossroads of the EU and Putin's Russia. From the tear gas filled streets of the capital to the manicured gardens of a billionaire oligarch, I'll take you to a critical moment in Georgia's history and explore what it means for the future of our world order. Subscribe now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Nazia Hamdan, sitting in for Al Letson. Just a day after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, a few thousand congregants made their way into the Cornerstone megachurch in San Antonio, Texas for Sunday prayer. Before the sermon starts, the lights go out and a dramatic video plays from a screen that fills the stage.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

Sirens are wailing and prophecies written thousands of years ago are stepping onto the world stage.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

A narrator asks, is this just another war? Then the Bible appears, a giant explosion behind it.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

Iran.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Israel.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

America. America. Where are we in the unfolding plan of God?

[Pastor John Hagee]

And the Bible says, when you see these signs, lift up your heads and rejoice. Your redemption draweth mine.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

The screen fills with the words God's Coming Operation Epic Fury. Honestly, it looks like a trailer for a Michael Bay movie, but really it's just Pastor John Hagee's way of talking about Iran.

[Pastor John Hagee]

God bless you, Mr. President. God bless our forces in the Middle east in this brilliant execution of Operation Epic Fury.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Hagee, whose church boasts 20 members, is celebrating the war.

[Pastor John Hagee]

Today. We are going to discover Bible prophecy called God's Operation Fury. He has planned for Iran in the near future.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

A powerful subset of evangelical Christians believes that the war in Iran is the fulfillment of an ancient biblical prophecy predicting the second coming of the Messiah. They're known as Christian Zionists because they also believe Israel will play a key role in that prophecy.

[Pastor John Hagee]

We stand with Israel because Israel is not a political issue, it's a Bible issue. You mess up on Israel and it's like pulling the plug on the mercy that is being shown to our country right now.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

The criteria that Jesus will use against

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

the world when he comes back to

[Pastor John Hagee]

establish his kingdom is, how did you

[News Reporter/Announcer]

treat the Jews, my brethren?

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

The war with Iran ranks among one of the most unpopular conflicts in the last 80 years. Multiple polls have found that a majority of Americans oppose the attacks. So why is this group so enthusiastic? And how influential are they? Mother Jones reporter Kyra Butler has been looking into exactly that question. Here's Kira.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Byron Stinson is from Texas and a Devout Christian.

[Byron Stinson]

Check 1, 2, 3, mic test. How's it sounding over there?

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

Y' all hear me?

[Byron Stinson]

Okay? Texas twang N. Hi friends.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

I'm Byron.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

This is a video he made last year.

[Byron Stinson]

I have a story to tell that's pretty amazing and I didn't tell it for 30 years. So I'm going to go ahead and just bare my soul and tell you this story.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

When Byron was 13, he was reading from the New Testament. In it, Paul talks about how the flesh calls on you to do what's wrong, but the spirit calls on you to do what's right.

[Byron Stinson]

And I really registered with that. 13, 14 year old boys can register with that because I really wanted to be a righteous person and do what was right.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Byron keeps reading and lingers on something else.

[Byron Stinson]

Paul says the promises of God, the basis of everything that we should believe in, was all done through the Jewish people.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

And then Paul, at that moment, Byron said he heard God calling him to action.

[Byron Stinson]

And right then, as if sitting next to me on the bed, I heard Father God say, I'm going to use him with the Jewish people.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

And in 2021, Byron got his chance. He found the perfect red cow.

[Byron Stinson]

The actual verse says, say unto Israel, bring us a red heifer.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Let me explain. Christian Zionists believe that for Jesus to return to the earth, a specific chain of events needs to happen. One of those events is the ritual sacrifice of a red heifer in Jerusalem. And Byron had the know how to check this one off the list.

[Byron Stinson]

I went to my rancher friends and we discussed what kind of breeds might be all red. So we went. They said, you know Byron, the Red Angus is one of the reddest and a very gentle fish cow. And then you also got the Santa Gertrudes.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

But it can't be just any red cow. According to the scripture, the purification ritual can only happen with a perfectly unblemished red heifer. Most cows are tagged, which would automatically make them imperfect.

[Byron Stinson]

So we got under a tree and we just said, you know, lord, if it's your will, we're here looking for a red heifer. Could you give us one? In less than 10 minutes, we, we came up on a baby that had only been born minutes before, laying next to its mother. And that was our first red heifer right there.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

He would ultimately find five perfect red heifers. And in September 2022, he chartered them a flight to Israel. The entire venture cost more than $500,000.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

This is the most energetic sector of global Christianity right now. Are these independent charismatics?

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

This is Matthew Taylor, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University's center on Faith and Justice. When he says independent charismatics, he means

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

Christians who are invested in a kind of supernaturalist spirituality. So these are Christians who speak in tongues. These are Christians who believe in modern prophecy, who believe in miracles and the accessibility of miracles, who believe that they can even perform miracles.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Many people think this is a fringe movement. But According to a 2023 study from the Public Religion Research Institute, more than half of those who consider themselves born again hold some of these charismatic beliefs. Matthew Taylor says it's safe to say that more than 50% of American evangelicals are Christian Zionists, with many believing that Israel's founding in 1948 is part of biblical prophecy.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

This is one of the preconditions for Jesus to come back is that Jews have reconstituted a state of Israel, so

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

they want to protect Israel from its enemies, and that includes Iran. Christian Zionists believe the war is not just a geopolitical necessity, but a divine intervention.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

A lot of these leaders that I track, they believe in a demon named the Prince of Persia. They believe that that is a very high level demon who holds control over the the Middle east and especially over Iran.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

First, I want to say that I am praying for Israel's protection and shalom, as we are instructed to do.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

This is South Carolina evangelist Dutch Sheets during one of his daily prayers back in 2024.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

I know Iran and its proxies are motivated by a principality that the Bible calls the Prince of Persia.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

So they see an attack on Iran by the US Military as an enactment in the physical, natural realm of a bigger war that's going on in the spiritual realm.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

This spirit, of course, hates Israel because of its partnership with God and giving Messiah to the world.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

And since God loves Israel and God loves Christians, God wants Israel to be dominant in the region and Christians to be dominant over the earth.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

But it's that bit that Christians will dominate the earth.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

Part of the premise of Christian Zionism is that Judaism will disappear.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

These evangelicals believe that when Jesus comes back, he'll convert all the Jews. And anyone who doesn't accept Jesus, including unwilling Jews, will perish and be damned to hell. So that feels like a pretty big wrinkle in this historic alliance. Like, why would the Jewish people be okay with this?

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

And the Jewish folks are saying, these wacky evangelicals, they all think that Jesus is going to show up and convert us in the end. We know that's not going to happen. But their support is really, really useful.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

We have millions of Christians who are

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

standing with Israel, often even stronger than the Jewish community.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

This is Yael Eckstein. Yael is the president and global CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a massive Israel focused nonprofit that overse things like humanitarian relief and Jewish resettlement. In 2023, her nonprofit brought in $271 million. That's more money than the Anti Defamation League and the pro Israel lobbying organization AIPAC raised that year combined. But those groups primarily target Jewish donors for their fundraising. According to a spokesperson for Yael's organization, 92% of its donors are Christians. As far as that prophecy that the Jewish people will need to convert to Christianity to be saved, she says we'll just have to wait and see what the prophecy holds. But until then, she'll take all the support she can get. Here she is addressing her followers the day the Iran war began.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

So powerful to know that as we're in the middle of war, it's Christians who are praying for us and praying with us and standing with us, and

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

all the projects the Fellowship has done

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

over the years to help secure the people, they're being used right now.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Her father founded the fellowship back in 1983, and since then, the group has raised a staggering $3.6 billion for Israel and the Jewish people. After her father's death in 2019, they've more than doubled their revenue, thanks in large part to donations from Christians.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

The amounts of money being channeled into this are enormous.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Hagee Ministries, run by Pastor John Hagee, who you heard earlier, has donated more than $130 million since the 1980s to Israeli and Jewish charities. Last year, Hagee's ministry gave $3.1 million to these charities in just one night.

[Pastor John Hagee]

There's going to be a global day of judgment in which the nations of the world and individuals will be judged by Jesus Christ on planet Earth for how they treated the Jewish people.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Hagee also founded the evangelical Zionist group Christians United for Israel back in 2006. It claims more than 10 million members. That's more than the entire population of 7.6 million Jews in the U.S. when

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

Netanyahu comes to the U.S. he's more often meeting with Christian leaders than with Jewish leaders. And so we're talking about a very, very powerful demographic.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

And to some extent, the money flows both ways. In 2025, Israel's Ministry of Foreign affairs brought more than 1,000 US pastors to Israel to be trained as ambassadors for Israeli solidarity. A year earlier, the Guardian reported that Israel channeled funds from Christian Zionist groups to oppose pro Palestine activism on US College campuses. But it's almost impossible to know just how much money is moving back and forth because churches aren't required to make their finances public. One pastor said it best at an event in Jerusalem last I literally feel God is giving Israel a blank check. The message that Christian Zionist leaders are giving their followers is simple. Their donations are part of a divine plan to bring about the return of Jesus Christ. And the Prince of Persia is standing in the way.

[Pastor John Hagee]

Israel's season of peace is going to come, for the Lord has spoken it. In Jeremiah 25:30, he says, for the Lord will roar from on high.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Here's Pastor Hagee again. During the sermon he gave a day after the Iran war began.

[Pastor John Hagee]

He has left his hiding place like a lion. Like a lion. What was Israel calling this military action against Iran? Israel called it Operation Roaring Lion. Prophetically, we're right on cue.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

President Trump's own spiritual advisor, Paula White Cain, is someone who holds these charismatic and supernatural beliefs. Here she is during the lead up to the 2020 election, speaking in tongues. I've been covering the religious rite for a few years, so I'm very familiar with Paula White Cane. But it was only after doing this reporting that I realized she was also an ardent Christian Zionist. We as Christians and believers know this, that we're not only to stand with Israel because we stand with God, and

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Israel is God's place.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Paula fully supports Israel, as do many in the Trump administration.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

Do you consider yourself a Christian Zionist, Senator?

[Narrator/Host (Nadia Hamdan)]

I support. I am a Christian, and I robustly support the state of Israel and its existential defense.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

That was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an exchange with Senator Tom Cotton last year. There's also House Speaker Mike Johnson.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

They're fighting for their very existence. For those of us who are believers, it's a biblical admonition to stand with Israel. We will, and they will prevail.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

And the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

This is a spiritual battle. This is as clear a definition between good and evil as we have seen in our lifetime.

[Pastor John Hagee]

And.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

And one of the most profound in all of history.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Trump made history in November 2024 when he named Huckabee as the first evangelical Christian to serve as ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has described himself as an unapologetic, unreformed Zionist. At a special tribute event last year in Israel, Huckabee got on stage to play guitar doing a pro Israel rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama.

[Arash Azizi]

Sweet home Yerushalayim.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Yeah.

[Justin Salhani]

Where God's words ring so true.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

But not all Christians in Trump's base are happy with this war with Iran.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

This is actually a point of fracture within the MAGA coalition.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Again, religion scholar Matthew Taylor, where Trump

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

has sided with his Christian Zionist advisors, sided with Bibi Netanyahu and the current government of Israel in this war that is actually deeply unpopular with a large part of his base, and they are pushing back quite hard today.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

People like far right commentators Candace Owens

[Sponsor/Advertiser Voice]

were very aware that Israel is dictating our foreign policy, and we would now like that to stop.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Nick Fuentes.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

Our only hope is that in 2028, in the Republican primary, somebody will emerge who will actually put America first.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

And Tucker Carlson.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

This is not Christianity. Imagine Jesus saying, just kill them all. They're terrorists. Is there anything in the Gospel that suggests Jesus believed that? No, there's a lot to suggest, in fact, to tell us in very clear terms, he thought the opposite.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Just days before the US And Israel began their most recent bombing campaign in Iran, Tucker had Ambassador Huckabee on his show. He wanted to know how far Christian Zionists are willing to go. Because he says, if you're using the Bible as a yardstick, Israel has a right not just to the land it has now, but to much, much more.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

I just read Genesis 15, as I have many times. And that land, I think it says, from the Nile to the Euphrates, which is once again basically the entire Middle East.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

It's Lebanon, Jordan, southern Syria, even parts of Egypt, Iraq, and Turkey.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

So God gave that land to his people, the Jews. Or he didn't. You're saying he did. What does that mean? Does Israel have the right to that land? Because you're appealing to Genesis. Yeah. You're saying that's the original deed. It would be fine if they took it all, but I don't think that's what we're talking about here today. What would be fine? Well, it's exactly what we're talking about today. Well, but here's what I don't think you're. I think it would be fine if the state of Israel took over all of it. They don't want to take it over. They're not asking to go back to take all of that, but they are asking to at least take the land that they now occupy. They now live in, they now own legitimately, and it is a safe haven for them.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

But Tucker keeps pushing.

[News Reporter/Announcer]

You're explaining what Christian Zionism is and your theological beliefs. I just want to get to this point. If Israel were to say God gave us in Genesis 15, all of Lebanon, all of Syria, all the way up to Iraq, would that be legitimate in your view? I'm not sure that it would be. Now, if they end up getting attacked by all these places and they win that war and they take that land, then okay, that's a whole nother. Whole nother discussion.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Religion scholar Matthew Taylor says while Huckabee may be splitting hairs on whether Israel has a divine right to. To the greater Middle east, other Christian Zionists are crystal clear about it. Again, here's Pastor John Hagee.

[Pastor John Hagee]

The borders of Israel are recorded in scripture. Did you know that? And that little piece of real estate they have at the end of the Mediterranean is a fraction of what God intends for them to have. And when the king of glory comes back, they're going to get every blessed square inch of it.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

Just a few months ago, Hagee held his 45th annual night for Israel. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, another fierce supporter of Christian Zionism, was invited to speak.

[Pastor John Hagee]

Leaders in the church need to engage and say, the Bible is not silent on Israel. The Bible is crystal clear on Israel. And in the church, we will stand and fight.

[Reporter/Interviewer (Kira Butler)]

The crowd gets up on their feet and cheers for a full 30 seconds.

[Religion Scholar (Matthew Taylor)]

I was interviewing a pastor who grew up in some of these Christian Zionist churches, and he told me this thing that I just. I can't forget where he said. If somebody mentioned the state of Israel, that was cause for a standing ovation. If somebody mentions Jesus, it was a golf clap.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

That story from Mother Jones reporter Kira Butler. This war may have started in Iran, but it spread quickly. Coming up, we meet a journalist in Beirut Lebanon, who's been recording dispatches on his phone, giving us a window into how the spiraling violence is impacting everyday people.

[Justin Salhani]

I Woke up around 4am and my phone was buzzing and realized I'd slept through a drone strike about a 10 minute walk away.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

That's ahead on Reveal. Stay with us. From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Nadia Hamdan sitting in for Al Letson. It may be the American Israeli war against Iran, but that war has expanded into much of the Middle East. Almost immediately after being hit, Iran retaliated against Gulf countries firing thousands of missiles and drones into places like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, all of which host American military bases. And people like Layla Hassan have been glued to their phone. Leila is a journalism professor at Northwestern University, Qatar. She lives in Doha and has been sending me updates on the situation, but keeps finding herself interrupted by the distant sound of explosions. Depends on who manages to get on these flights in time, but oh, we just heard an interception. Now there are kids playing at the local playground, so I could hear their startled screams, but so far that was just one, that was another. These interceptions are the sound of the Qatari military destroying Iran's missiles and drones in midair. I think that was an interception. When this happens, Layla gets an emergency alert on her phone to take cover so as not to be hit by falling debris. So I'm sending you this voice note as things are unfolding. Oh, that sounded like a strike and not an interception. Wow, that startled me. Then there's Lebanon. After Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed, the Iran backed militia Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel, prompting retaliation. Betsell El Smotrich, a far right minister in Israel, warned that Dahi, Beirut's southern suburb and Hezbollah stronghold, should evacuate, saying you brought hell on yourselves. He said Dahi will look like Khan Younis, a reference to the city that was largely destroyed by Israel's war in Gaza. In recent weeks, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have displaced more than a million people and killed more than a thousand.

[Justin Salhani]

We live in dystopia. We're powerless or we feel powerless.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Justin Salhani is a journalist based in Beirut. He's also been sending me updates since the strikes began. And we want to close today's show listening to what life has been like for him and the Lebanese people as the country teeters on the brink of another major war. After Israel ordered Dahi residents to evacuate. Justin says you could feel the change in the city almost immediately. People setting up makeshift homes and parking lots on sidewalks along the seaside promenade known as the Corniche.

[Justin Salhani]

Now I'm down by the seafront at the start of the Corniche and there's a number of displaced people here. It's almost iftar time and it's golden hour, so the light is really beautiful.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

In some ways it still feels normal. There are people exercising, men scrolling on their phones, kids playing soccer. But he also sees benches covered with blankets.

[Justin Salhani]

Some people have set up small kind of campsites, like with foldable chairs or plastic chairs. Mattresses are folded up next to them. They've got pillows and things like that.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Justin is with a friend who is filming a documentary. Soon a crowd of displaced kids swarm around him to look at his camera, asking him how it works.

[Justin Salhani]

One of the kids is totally in love with the camera.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

The young boy is holding a toy gun. Justin says that's when an older man nearby interjects.

[Justin Salhani]

And he told the kid, listen, do you like the camera? Is it nice? The kid said, yeah, it's my dream to be a cameraman when I grew up. The guy said to him, good, so you see that gun? Take that idea out of your head and focus on the camera instead, because look where this war has gotten us.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Justin lives just a short drive from the Corniche, in a neighborhood called Ras Beirut, far west of the city center, right along the sea. He says it's packed with people seeking refuge. Blocked alleyways, cars double parked, people searching for apartments. The school next door to his house has been turned into a shelter housing around 1200 people.

[Justin Salhani]

People are very much shook, afraid, nervous. There is a bit of panic. We're packing go bags just in case.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Justin and his wife are preparing for the worst. But in the first week of the war, he felt it would be safe to stay in their home. Dahi, the southern suburb targeted by Israeli strikes, is about six miles away, far enough that Justin felt okay. But that started to change yesterday morning.

[Justin Salhani]

We woke up to loud booms and it really shook us. I Woke up around 4am and had a bunch of messages. My phone was buzzing and realized I'd slept through a drone strike. About a 10 minute walk away in a place called Rauch, we got woken up for the second time at night. There was a blast, but it sounded different. It was more like a slow rumbling blast and almost like thunder.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

By the second week of the war, the fighting had only intensified. That slow rumble Justin heard was a strike that happened in another seemingly safe and densely populated neighborhood less than two miles away.

[Justin Salhani]

So I'm at the site of the attack in a neighborhood called Aisha Bakor. There's a lot of people that cordone off the area. Apparently there was an UN unexploded ordinance as well. The buildings across the street have had their glass blown out. And then here on the scene, there's quite a bit of wreckage. Two floors just completely blown out.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

That night, Justin and his wife wouldn't get much sleep.

[Justin Salhani]

Hi, Nadia. Tonight seems to be the most violent night so far. Warplanes are constantly overhead. They've been striking the southern suburbs extensively. The photos are quite horrific. It looks like Smotrich's claims that they want to turn Dahy into Khan Younis are underway.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Israel's bombardment of Dahiyeh has cratered buildings resembling some of the destruction seen in Gaza. Israel is also amassing troops along its border with southern Lebanon and has issued a blanket evacuation order extending as far as 25 miles north. And Israel's strikes are no longer isolated to Hezbollah strongholds. Buildings and cars have been targeted in central Beirut. Israel has even issued evacuation orders for some of these neighborhoods.

[Justin Salhani]

That sense of security is now gone and we don't know if there are any limits. Nobody feels completely safe, I think.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

And on top of all of this, Justin says there's another growing fear.

[Justin Salhani]

It feels like we're doomed to see war repeating itself, you know, potential civil conflict repeating itself.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Justin is referring to Lebanon's brutal civil war from 1975 to 1990. Sectarian violence devastated the country, and in 1982, Israel took control of southern Lebanon and held it for 20 years. Justin and other people I talked to tell me they worry it all could happen again, as many people in Lebanon are growing increasingly frustrated that Hezbollah is dragging the country into repeated conflicts with Israel.

[Justin Salhani]

Basically, we were all at the ages that our parents were when the war ended. So if the war started, you know, I'm almost 40, you know, a 15 year conflict. You think about your life very differently and it really rewrites what your future might be.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

By the end of the second week of the war, Israeli planes drop leaflets over Beirut, seemingly stoking these divisions.

[Justin Salhani]

The fliers basically call on us, the Lebanese people, to rise up against Hezbollah, which is kind of just absurd, you know, I mean, already people do everything they can to oppose them for the most part. I mean, apart from their supporters, obviously, who support them because they feel that they're the only protector they have against Israel.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

Roughly a third of the country supports Hezbollah, which has the most powerful political party and military force in Lebanon. So Justin says Even though many people oppose the group, including much of the Lebanese government, he feels like there is little they can do. And Israeli officials have said this won't be a short war. There was another flyer the Israelis dropped over Beirut that day that many Lebanese read as a threat. It looked like the COVID of a magazine with a headline that read the New Reality in Lebanon.

[Justin Salhani]

It talks about how the great success of Gaza is now arriving to the new reality of Lebanon. Yeah, it's madness. It's insanity. And I had a couple of friends messaging. One of them told me this is a level of fear they haven't felt before. Yeah, we don't know what's coming next.

[Narrator/Reporter (Najeeb Amini)]

And perhaps that's been one of the scariest things about the war. No one seems to know what's coming next. This show was produced by me and reveals. Najeeb Amini, Lou Olkowski and Brett Myers edited the show. Special thanks to Daniel Mowattar and Denise Ajiri. Malvis Acosta and Sarah Salaji are our fact checkers. Victoria Baranetsky is our general counsel. Our production manager is Suleima Cobb. Score and sound design by Jim Briggs and Fernando Arruda. They had help this week from Claire Mullent. Taki Telenides is our deputy executive producer. Our executive producer is Brett Myers. Our theme music is by Camerado Lightning. Support for Reveal is provided by the Riva and David Logan foundation, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, the park foundation, the Schmidt Family foundation and the Hellman Foundation. Support for Reveal is also provided by you our listeners. We are a co production of the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. I'm Ned Yahamdan sitting in for Al Letson. And like he always says, there is always more to the story.

[Arash Azizi]

From prx.