Israel’s bombing of Beirut was “the deadliest ten minutes in decades,” according to The Guardian.
On the same day that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a ceasefire “on all fronts,” the Zionist regime carried out the most fatal mass killing in Lebanon since the civil war of 1975–90.
Mass murder
Israel murdered more than 300 and wounded at least 1,165 in an indiscriminate bombing of densely packed neighborhoods in Lebanon’s capital. The death toll is still rising as medics and rescue crews work to pull bodies from the rubble.
The aerial assault overwhelmed the city’s healthcare system. An ER doctor described droves of maimed, parentless children flooding in through a packed ambulance bay: “The youngest was an 11 month old. I had to operate on him just to relieve some pressure in the head.”
The Israeli regime, backed by American imperialism, justified the attack, claiming they were “targeting Hezbollah.” A victim of the bombing told The Guardian, “There is no Hezbollah here. The Israelis are just happy when they bomb people. It’s not about Hezbollah.”
As in Gaza and Iran, the Zionist bombing campaign is not aimed at “military targets.” It is designed to terrorize the population and destroy the infrastructure that allows for some semblance of civilized existence.
Land grab
The bombing of Beirut is only Israel’s latest atrocity. After three years of genocide with more than 75,000 dead and nearly 200,000 injured, Gaza is now a living hell—a rubble-laden prison for over two million people, made possible by US bombs and dollars.
Three days into the US-Israel war on Iran, Israel launched a ground invasion of Lebanon. The attack displaced 1.2 million people—20% of Lebanon’s population. The Zionists see the war as an opportunity to carry out a land grab in South Lebanon, a territory they occupied for 18 years until they were kicked out by the Lebanese resistance in 2000.
The US and its puppet Israeli regime are the biggest terrorists in the Middle East. / Image: White House, public domain
Last month, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israel needs to seize Lebanese territory up to the Litani River. Defense Minister Israel Katz echoed his sentiment.
This would mean snatching around 1,200 square kilometers, roughly 10% of Lebanon’s national territory. An outspoken advocate of “Greater Israel,” Smotrich is essentially calling for another US-sponsored Nakba, this time in South Lebanon.
Other Zionists are more careful not to say the quiet part out loud. In an article published by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel think tank, IDF reserve Brigadier General Assaf Orion warns against “fanning the ‘Greater Israel’ narrative.” He suggests couching the shameless land grab with the excuse of “disarming Hezbollah,” and “establishing a security zone around Israel.”
“Gaza model”
Orion goes on to lay out the IDF leadership’s strategy for the incursion. It is bone-chilling:
Establishing the security zone will reportedly entail major destruction in the strip of Lebanese villages closest to the frontier, apart from Christian communities (Druze villages will probably be spared as well). The IDF clarified that these villages will not be completely destroyed, only terrorist infrastructure discovered therein, as the goal is to prevent Hezbollah or other actors from using the villages for cross-border attacks. Yet given various Israeli statements and the Gaza model that inspired the Lebanon operation, meeting this objective will probably produce “scorched earth” results in some cases.
The “Gaza model,” to which Orion refers so nonchalantly, refers to the indiscriminate bombing and genocide of an entire population. In case this wasn’t clear, Orion emphasizes: “Israel … will massively raze buildings [in South Lebanon] to prevent Hezbollah from once again using border infrastructure for terrorist purposes. This also entails preventing individuals from returning to or rebuilding these villages. At least until alternative arrangements are reached with the Lebanese Government.”
The IDF has been essential in aiding the far-right settler movement in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights. To say that people will be prevented from returning to South Lebanon until “alternative arrangements” are made is a cynical cover for an operation which will pave the way for the rabid, genocidal settler movement to finish the job of displacing the southern Lebanese population.
The US and its puppet Israeli regime are the biggest terrorists in the Middle East. Their war crimes are innumerable and their ambitions genocidal. A total and crushing defeat of these reactionaries would be cause for celebration for workers all around the world.
That’s why communists stand entirely with the people of Lebanon, Palestine, Iran, and the entire Middle East in their struggle against the US and Israeli imperialism.
Down with US and Israeli imperialism!
US out of the Middle East!