Israel’s airstrikes on Monday came a day after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in what the group called an “initial” response to last week’s device attacks.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Tel Aviv in March 2023. (DoD/Alexander Kubitza)
The Israeli military launched a wave of deadly airstrikes in eastern and southern Lebanon on Monday, the latest escalatory step toward a full-blown war following Israel’s mass detonations of electronic devices that killed dozens of people last week.
The Lebanese Health Ministry ordered hospitals in the southern part of the country to temporarily halt elective surgeries to make room for victims of Israel’s latest barrage of airstrikes, which came just hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his “support for Israel’s right to defend itself from Lebanese Hezbollah attacks” in a conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant.
While Austin also stressed “the importance of finding a diplomatic solution,” he did not signal any potential change to the U.S. policy of unconditional support for Israel as it continues to bombard the Gaza Strip and expands its attacks on Lebanon — military campaigns that would likely be impossible to sustain without the help of U.S. weaponry. Analysts have argued that ongoing U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza has enabled the intensifying attacks on Lebanon.
António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, warned in a CNN interview on Sunday that all-out war would risk “the possibility of transforming Lebanon into another Gaza,” which he said would be “a devastating tragedy for the world.”
At least 100 people have reportedly been killed and more than 400 injured by Israel’s new strikes on Lebanon, which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) characterized as an “extensive” assault on Hezbollah, the political party and paramilitary group. An IDF spokesperson said in a video posted to social media that Monday’s bombing campaign was a preemptive attack, launched amid “indications that Hezbollah was preparing to fire towards Israeli territory.”
Assal Rad, a Middle East analyst and historian, wrote in response that “Israel is using the same script in Lebanon that it used to justify the total destruction and mass slaughter in Gaza because they faced no consequences.”
“U.S. weapons continue to flow and the media continues to whitewash,” Rad added.
BREAKING | Hospitals in south Lebanon have received at least 30 injured people, some of them in critical condition, due to the Israeli bombardment of south Lebanon. Initial reports of a number of deaths. pic.twitter.com/Y8HKmU9n8x
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) September 23, 2024
Israel’s airstrikes came a day after Hezbollah fired around 150 rockets at Israel, most of which were intercepted. Hezbollah said the rocket fire was an “initial” response to last week’s device attacks, which killed around 40 people and wounded thousands.
Air-raid sirens went off in northern Israel on Monday amid the IDF’s bombardment of Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled on Sunday that the IDF’s attacks on Lebanon are just beginning, boasting that “over the past few days, we hit Hezbollah with a series of blows it hadn’t imagined.”
“If Hezbollah didn’t get the message,” he added, “I promise you, they will.”
Unnamed U.S. officials told Axios over the weekend that they agree with Israel’s strategy in Lebanon, which one Israeli official described as “deescalation through escalation.”
“If this is true,” responded Drop Site News journalist Murtaza Hussain, “it’s very damning confirmation they have no plan or idea how to off-ramp from this situation.”
Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.
This article is from Common Dreams.
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There are certainly no shortage of psychopaths in positions of authority. They are so sick inside that their idea of helping the world is to destroy it completely. The world can’t keep going on with people like that in positions of trust. They are anything BUT trustworthy. It’s highly unlikely that they can trust themselves. Why anyone else would trust them is a mystery. No one who isn’t crazy would give a two year old who is having a temper tantrum a loaded gun. Anyone who is giving guns to Israel is INSANE. FLAT OUT INSANE.
Only America’s egregious interference and provocations in this war and all the other wars throughout the Middle East makes all this sinful vile slaughter possible. That makes it YOUR fault, my stupid immoral fellow American.
Hezbollah got the message: Israelis are criminals.
WW3 is here with us!
This morning Alastair Crooke indicated on the Judge that many of the injuries from the sneaking pager etc. attacks resulted in blinding the victims. Plus these devices were mostly used by the civilian side not the Hezbollah military, so Israel did not gain there. A million Israelis are now in shelters, two million under threat of return fire. Hezbollah has not yet used specialized missiles only the familiar drone rockets most of which were shot down. Meanwhile, it’s difficult to treat Austin’s canard on “self-defense” with the disgust it deserves. It compares to justifying a shooter at an elementary school. Oh, he was acting in self-defense . . .
Austin is a yes-man, devoid of perspective, analytical sharps, and more simply – spine. Perfected the don’t rock the boat.
Ret. General Austin is given credit for convincing Biden not to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine. Otherwise, he’s been so marginalized that he checked himself into a hospital and no one missed him.
I’ve noticed for some years US and UK political figures who are keen to please Israel don’t have to keep saying so every time they speak. They just have to wear a mid-shade of blue once in a while to demonstrate that. With men it’s usually ties like with Austin here, but women have more options which are not quite so obvious if it’s a scarf or a hat or shoes.