The mayor of one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon has been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit the city’s municipal headquarters during a meeting to coordinate aid deliveries to residents and those displaced by war.
The strike, one of a series on Nabatieh on Wednesday morning, killed 16 people and wounded 52, the Lebanese health ministry said. Howaida Turk, the governor of Nabatieh province, said members of the provincial capital’s crisis committee were meeting at the time.
It was the most significant Israeli hit yet on a Lebanese state institution since fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah broke out a year ago, and followed a week of intensifying aerial bombardment across Lebanon.
In what universe can a 100,000 man army launch attacks against your neighbor whilst operating out of your home country funded and manned by your nation and not be at war?
It would be like having the Texas national guard launching rockets into Mexico. The US and Mexico would be at war. Proxy war as a sub for actual war only works when you are strong enough your adversary is disinclined to respond to your provocation. Imagine hiring goons and visibly directing them to break your neighbors windows and thinking that you can stay out of the scuffle.
Critique Israel all you like and I do as well. I don’t feel like Lebanon has any right to complain that Israel is striking them. They should commit to stopping the attacks and they and Israel should make peace.
So while Israel is relentlessly attacking Lebanon, Lebanon should help attack itself and “make peace” with tze country that is bullying it, invading it and committing massacres there since 50 years?
And while all this happens it is also getting fucked economically time and time again, and because of the way it was carved out no political faction wants a strong army in fear it could become one sided. So building a strong national army is an extremely challenging task.
Israel and its allies are majorly responsible that Lebanon could never establish itself to the extent of being able to drive out Hezbollah.
It is like telling someone to “stop punsh himself” while forcing his arm and then also punshing with your own free arm too.
Yes any country that hosts a terrorist militia should both shut it down and make peace with its neighbors. Israel should offer peace in exchange for all hostages and a lawfully administered democratic Palestinian state protected by the UN but without arms for a period of time. Unlawful Israeli settlements should be ceded to this state.
All these things are worth doing and benefit everyone except hard liners on both side which have aspirations that range from unlawful to unrealistic.
Instead of achieving any extreme ends of either party the results of current strategy is likely to be a permanent state of suffering that will directly or indirectly harm millions. Their lifes and times are worth saving.
Problem is you need both sides to work towards that. Israels has made it clear time and time again that they have no onterested in any of that.
No matter which government. whether extreme right and fascist like Netanyahu or supposed center… They always continued the annexation of Palestinian land.
The only way your ideals could be made real is if the western allies pressure Israel into obeying, for which there is no indication. They didnt bother tp do so even with the Israeli crimes of the last year.
This is again very similar to how bad schools handle bullying. They blame the beaten up victim and suspend ot, for not having thought to resolve the bullying peacefully.
Also it is crucial to understand that Hezbollah is the result of Israeli aggression. It was founded to fight back the 1980s Lebanon invasion and decades of occupation by Israel.
Unless Israel is significantly disarmed and whipped into line, while Lebanon is given substantial developmemt aid, these demands only serve to tell Lebanon to roll over on its back for Israel to do what it wants.
Lebanon isn’t the beaten up victim they are scumbags that host a terrorist army. If this specific conflict didn’t exist they would still be a terrorist state run by a gang of thugs.