By CARLOS SAPIR

Almost a year into its invasion of Gaza and despite the global outcry against the genocide that it is perpetrating against Palestinians, Israel has lashed out at Lebanon with a series of bombings, and is publicly preparing a ground invasion of the country. This escalation, outrageous even in the context of the ongoing war for its blatant disregard of Lebanon’s sovereignty, has already killed hundreds of civilians.

While its attacks on Lebanon have been brutal, the Zionist state’s expansion of a war that has already made it a pariah on the world stage is a tacit admission of failure in Gaza, and risks a diplomatic, military, and economic overextension that could be fatal to the apartheid state. Further, Israel’s criminal attacks against Lebanon are only possible by means of the continued military support that the United States has provided to Israel, and it is the task of the Palestine solidarity movement in North America to do everything it can to end that support.

Why is Israel bombing Lebanon?

Since the beginning of the Israeli invasion of Gaza in 2023, Hezbollah and Israel have engaged in low-grade skirmishes across the Lebanon border. Hezbollah has publicly stated that its goal is to stop the Israeli invasion of Gaza, and that it will cease its attacks if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. While the physical damage and casualties caused by these attacks has been minimal, they have had a significant impact on Israel’s economy, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis living in the north, and have required Israel to retain forces on the Lebanese border rather than committing fully to its military campaigns within Palestine.

Although periodic attacks by Israel against Iranian and Syrian targets have been a longstanding tactic (even before the current war) and generally provoked minimal responses, the scale and character of the recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon have been qualitatively different. A series of terror bombings launched using compromised pagers and walkie-talkies on Sept. 17 and 18 caused dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries. This was followed by airstrikes against civilian targets in Beirut on Sept. 20 and widespread bombing killing hundreds per day throughout the rest of the week.

Israeli military leaders have announced that the goal of their attacks on Lebanon is to destroy Hezbollah’s capacity to launch rockets into Israel and thus allow displaced Israelis to return to the north. Having failed to do so with its initial bombing campaign, Israeli troops are now being prepared for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon. This comes at the same time that the Israeli military appears to be considering an even more prolonged approach to the war in Gaza, floating ideas of an indefinite siege of the northern part of the enclave. Israel has failed in its original goal of destroying Hamas. For Israel to turn the genocide of Gaza into a “managed conflict” and a new status quo tolerable to Israelis, it needs to return northern Israel to work.

Historical precedents

This is far from the first time that Israel’s war against Palestinians has pushed it to invade Lebanon. Israel first invaded Lebanon in 1982 to attack the PLO, which had been displaced to there from Jordan. Initially, Israel attempted to march to Beirut and install a government led by the fascist, pro-Israeli Maronite Christian Bachir Gemayel. Following the assassination of Gemayel and the collapse of their plan to dominate Lebanese politics, Israeli forces retreated south of the Awali River, where they continued to engage in a military occupation of southern Lebanon that would last until 2000. It was in the context of fighting against this military occupation that Hezbollah was formed and grew to be an influential force in Lebanese politics. Israel invaded Lebanon again in 2006 to attempt to destroy Hezbollah, and was forced to withdraw after a month of fighting.

Much like its attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, Israel’s prospects for a conventional victory are slim, as it appears intent on repeating wars that it already failed to win under more favorable conditions. Compared to 2006, Hezbollah is better entrenched to face an invasion, with reports that it has set up an underground infrastructure similar to the tunnels that have allowed Palestinian resistance to continue in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israel is more diplomatically isolated, and is both operationally and politically stretched thin by its existing war in Palestine. Given the precedent set in Gaza, it seems entirely likely that Israel will pursue genocidal means to accomplish war goals that do not appear attainable using more conventional military occupation.

It is entirely possible that an Israeli invasion of Lebanon could ignite a greater response from its population, similarly to how Hezbollah itself was formed in the context of Israel’s first invasion of the country. This may also become a critical moment for the people of other neighboring countries, already actively and historically sympathetic to Palestinian liberation, who can see the perennial military threat that Israel presents to their existence and that the wars of the 20th century have not been settled. Now that the “Axis of Resistance” finds itself under direct attack, it may find itself outflanked by new forces fully committed to the anti-Zionist struggle, inside and outside of Palestine.

This war runs on U.S. supplies

Neither the ongoing genocidal war in Gaza nor the invasion of Lebanon would be possible without the ongoing military and diplomatic support provided to Israel by the U.S., and to a lesser extent the other imperialist powers. This comes not only in the form of ongoing arms shipments worth billions upon billions of dollars, which Israeli officials have acknowledged are key to their military capacity. It has also taken the form of intelligence sharing, with U.S. military resources helping Israel choose its targets, and support from naval groups to shoot down any attacks against Israel. There is, of course, the diplomatic dimension, with the U.S. blocking every attempt to censure Israel in the UN and similar bodies. Perhaps most vitally, the U.S. provides Israel exclusive access to cutting-edge military hardware. This is not just significant because of the power of the weaponry; this special relationship means that Israel’s most valuable military hardware exclusively relies on U.S. parts and manufacturing for operation and repair, and these parts cannot be easily substituted by Israeli production or any other would-be supplier.

Other imperialist powers, while less directly complicit than the U.S., are far from innocent. While they also publicly call for ceasefires, France, Britain and Canada have longstanding arms deals with Israel that remain largely intact, and even in the face of Israeli aggression against Lebanon, they repeat the usual rhetoric that “both sides” must halt hostilities and negotiate. The “both sides” view of the invasion of Lebanon has also been adopted by Russia, which maintains close ties with both Israel and Iran. China was the only major imperialist power to clearly denounce Israel’s aggression against Lebanon, but its overall perspective is nevertheless one of a two-state solution and economic collaboration with the Zionist entity. There is no world power benefactor that is going to step in to liberate Palestinians. The fight for Palestinian liberation is a political struggle that must be organized and carried out by the masses in Palestine and by working people around the world in solidarity with them.

From within the U.S., it is vitally important to continue to organize mass protests and conferences to educate and organize people into action against the support by the U.S. government and industry for Israel’s endless wars. The machines and resources that are used today to build and maintain Israeli weaponry could easily be retooled to produce materials for overdue infrastructure projects, such as public transit expansion, bridge repair, and climate change mitigation. Working people deserve to have a say in how their labor is used, and should have the right to refuse to be ordered at their jobs to enable war crimes. To challenge U.S. military support for Israel is to challenge the very priorities of the U.S. economy, representing billions of dollars of production underwritten with tax dollars. This is a gargantuan task, but it is also a necessary one.

Israel’s unchecked attacks against Lebanon are a violent crime that has already sown hundreds of new tragedies on top of its horrific genocide in Palestine. It unsteadily marches into a new war, and challenges the whole world to stop it.

Hands off Lebanon! End U.S. aid to Israel! End the genocide in Palestine! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

Photo: Israel strikes a village in southern Lebanon. (Kawnat HAJU)