The Economist.

Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist.

I'm Rosie Bloor.

Today on the show, the Lubbubu bubble is bursting and remembering Margueretta Magnuson,

guru of decluttering.

But first...

... But first... If anything represents the tug of war going on between the Lebanese state and Hezbollah, it is Beirut Airport. The airport is a particularly important institution in Lebanon, and for decades,

it has been a symbol of Hezbollah's control over the country. Over the years, Hasbolo used the airport

to bring Iranian weapons and money in and out of the country.

Gareth Brown is a Middle East correspondent. I've travelled through this airport hundreds of times, literally.

And in the last year or so, I've seen a real change as it has become a battleground

in the Lebanese government's efforts to reassert sovereignty and reclaim parts of the state

that have long been ceded to Hezbollah.

So, Gareth, you're using the airport here as a microcosm of the relationship between

Hezbollah and the Lebanese government. Just remind us of the context here and what has weakened

Hisbola recently. Most recently, the Iranian-back group have just come out of a

six-week war with Israel, a war that began within the atmospherics of the Israel-U.S. Iran War.

And Hezbollah made the decision to unilaterally drag Lebanon into that conflict. And over the last

six weeks, they've taken a real beating

from the air. Israeli airstrikes have further decimated their military command, their political

command, and dozens of villages along the southern border, some of which Hezbollah has strengthened,

have essentially been cleared by the Israeli military, this new buffer zone.

...