Israel strikes targets in Lebanon
It’s been known for a long time that Israel must degrade Hezbollah’s forces in Lebanon, because the Iran proxy is determined to destroy Israel. And although much of the world mouths sentiments about supporting Israel’s need to defend itself, when Israel actually does so it is accused of crimes it is not committing. It seems much of the world considers Israel’s self-defense to be a crime.
But Israelis have a stubborn desire to not be murdered or tortured or taken hostage by the enemies who surround it. And so, with the pager attacks a few days ago, the larger – and inevitable – attack on Hezbollah has begun. Talks will not deter either Iran (the country behind Hezbollah) or Hezbollah itself from action to destroy Israel, and that’s why this is necessary.
Hezbollah’s forces make Gaza look like pikers. If Hezbollah had joined in on October 7 with a large attack from the north, I think Israel would have been occupied and destroyed. That didn’t happen, and I’ve read that the reason was that Hamas jumped the gun on the attack, as it were, and Hezbollah was caught flat-footed. At any rate, here are some estimates:
According to estimates, prior to the October 7 massacre, Hezbollah had 40,000 short-range rockets able to travel up to 40 kilometers, as well as a few thousand medium-range rockets. …
Following the recent intensified strikes in Lebanon, the IDF estimates that approximately half of Hezbollah’s short- and medium-range rockets were hit.
However, Hezbollah still has a large supply of the missiles, as well as several thousand medium- and long-range rockets, as well as tens of thousand other short-range weapons which can reach up to 10 kilometers from the Israel-Lebanon border. The terror group also possesses UAVs and other types of weapons which may threaten Israel.
Over the past day, Hezbollah has fired around 200 rockets into Israeli territory. Israel, however, is assuming that if and when the terror group chooses to fire longer-range rockets, it will be able to do so.
The latest attacks by Israel involve this:
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck some 1,600 targets across Lebanon on Monday, including many homes it said housed weapons directly threatening the country, in the deadliest barrages of airstrikes since the 2006 war against Hezbollah, ratcheting up fears of a fresh outbreak of all-out conflict on the restive border.
“Fears of a fresh outbreak”? There’s been a simmering war there for a long time, and an outbreak of a larger war was inevitable. I’m no military expert, but I think it’s clear that when an enemy wants to destroy you and has the means and will to do so, war is going to break out. It’s a fantasy to think otherwise, or a self-deception. And if you don’t actually think otherwise but speak as though you do, then it’s a destructive lie.
More:
Speaking from an underground command room at military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was changing the balance of power with Hezbollah, signaling Israel would no longer play defense after months of cross-border violence.
Tens of thousands of Israelis have been displaced from their homes in northern Israel since last October by relentless Hezbollah rocket fire, and Israel’s cabinet last week designated the secure return of those residents to their homes as an official aim of the current conflict.
Most of the world doesn’t want those Israelis to return to their homes. But Israelis aren’t listening, nor should they be.
NOTE: Lebanon was once a fairly stable country where Muslims and Christians lived together in relative peace. Who destabilized it? It began with welcoming Palestinians to the country. A summary:
In 1970, the PLO attempted to overthrow a reigning monarch, King Hussein of Jordan, and following his quashing of the rebellion in what Arab historians call Black September, the PLO leadership and their troops fled from Jordan to Syria and finally Lebanon, where cross-border violence increased.
With headquarters moved to Beirut, PLO factions recruited new members from the Palestinian refugee camps. South Lebanon was nicknamed “Fatahland” due to the predominance there of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah organization. With its own army operating freely in Lebanon, the PLO had created a state within a state. By 1975, more than 300,000 Palestinian displaced persons lived in Lebanon. Aside from being used as an operation base for raids on Israel and against Israeli institutions across the world, the PLO and other Palestinian militant organizations also began a series of airplane hijack operations, targeting Israeli and international flights, carrying Israelis and Jews. The more profound effect on Lebanon was destabilization and increasing sectarian strife, which would eventually deteriorate into a full-blown civil war.
Israel intervened and drove the PLO out. Then Iran saw an opportunity and used Hezbollah to fill the power vacuum.
It appears that Israel has taken detailed 3-D photographs of buildings in Lebanon, which enable Israel to identify buildings with rockets inside the buildings. While this may seem science fiction- as did the exploding pagers seem science fiction- some videos of extended fires in buildings after being struck by Israeli armaments indicate that those targeted buildings did have rockets or some explosive material inside. Some Disassembly Required: High-Tech Goes to War Against 7th-Century Savages.
The article points out that, according to the 2006 UN ceasefire agreement, those rockets weren’t supposed to be there. Just imagine the UN wanting to impose a ceasefire now, and Israel replies that the last UN ceasefire, which was supposed to have southern Lebanon disarmed, was totally ineffectual. Israel could reply that its current air attacks are an attempt to enforce the terms of the 2006 UN ceasefire.
Neo makes an interesting point that if in concurrence with the Hamas attack on October 7, had Hezbollah invaded and also fired its tens of thousands of rockets ASAP, Israel may well have been overwhelmed.
Hezbollah hesitated for unknown reasons, and now it appears that hesitation was disastrous for them. Evil loses; a good outcome.
Various X reports say that Druze and Christian areas in Lebanon are blocking entry to Hezbollah members trying to flee to safety.
I guess it shouldnt surprise how many omissions are in that wiki like the fact syria bombed the presidential palace provoking the shatila massacre (which was a dreadful act for all concerned) and the commander elias hobeika later defected to syrias side
Ignatius back when he was writing labeled fiction the robert ames affair (referred in the tablet piece)was more honest describing how one particular prime minister enabled fatahs consolidation in lebanon he called him the squirrel he could not say his name was franjieh a rival to the gemayels
Well thats unsurprising
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/united-states/2024/09/24/us-to-waive-visas-for-qatar-in-first-for-arab-country
The sanctuary for hamas the syrian militias what ever they call themselves this week
“…extended fires…”
I think you’re referring to “secondary explosions”.
See, e.g.,
Left out is that Lebanon was 50% Christian prior to the arrival of the PLO in 1970. No more, most of them are gone due to the civil war ignited by them. What was known as the Riviera of the Levant was destroyed by the Muslims.
Israel should finish the job and kill Nasrala and all the rest of the leadership.
Make Lebanon Christian again.
Secondary explosions, continued:
https://twitter.com/DrEliDavid/status/1838222903520706831
H/T Instapundit
Not exactly bottles of arak that are blowing up—but maybe they’re electric bike batteries?
In any event, one has got to appreciate the description, “regular house in a regular village”…
Alas this is all too true now that Hezbullah/Iran have gotten their claws deep, deep, deep into Lebanon…
I think lots of Lebanese Christians are in the US now, judging from the large Maronite Catholic parish nearby here.
My husband was in Beirut in the mid 1990s on business. He took a wrong turn down a hotel corridor and saw that the whole side of the building was gone.
….To be sure, it’s all Big Bad Israel’s fault, of course…
Hey, maybe Hezb’ullah and Iran can be touted, feted, congratulated (and rewarded) by the U.N. and all the other usual illustrious suspects as “Urban Renewal” specialists….
This morning on Fox I was watching Michael Oren, a former ambassador to Israel (2009-2013). He said that Israelis have had it with Hezbollah’s attacks.
Period.
I knew that Hezbollah started launching rockets immediately after October 7. I didn’t know that they never stopped. These attacks have been daily since then. Much of Northern Israel has been evacuated.
That could get old. Maybe I should have known. I’m not surprised. In case anyone else didn’t, well, now you know.
Thats not happening any time soon the end consequences of all the wars in the middle east has been the migration from if not extermination of a whole generation of christians from syria iraq et al
In a happy coincidence one of trumps attys alina habba is the daughter of chaldean christians
Most Israeli casualties apart from the Druze children have been due to anti-tank guided missiles, I think. The ranges of these aren’t long, but they’re difficult to defeat without occupying the ground.
It would take a more confident regime than we find in the qai d’orsay or the foreign office and then again who would take a chance going there for any period of time
Kate
After the civil war in the 1970s, a lot of Lebanese Christians came to the US, but they were far from the first wave of Lebanese to come here. My hometown had several entrepreneurs of Lebanese (Phoenician?) origin. The son of one was Student Council President. My brother and I washed dishes at a New England country inn run by a family of Lebanese origin. You could special order a Lebanese banquet.
I worked in northern Argentina in a town that had a “Syrian-Lebanese Eating Club.” I worked at a well whose supervisor was of Lebanese origin (known as Turco (Turk-Ottoman Empire) in Argentina.) Years later in the US I had a Postdoc Math instructor whom I found out was a Turca from Buenos Aires.
The Lebanese get around.
I am reminded of the Greeks. All the people of Greek origin I’ve known have been either entrepreneurs or professionals: very competent people. Yet Greece, their home country, is rather dysfunctional. Sounds like the Lebanese out of Lebanon, and Lebanon.
Kornet anti-tank missiles, with a range of give-or-take 10 kilometers—IOW plenty long…
Lethal, deadly.
Incredibly effective and accurate.
(But Hezb’ullah is permitted to use them to kill and maim Israelis and destroy Israeli homes.
Because…well, whatever….)
“I didn’t know that they never stopped…”
You weren’t supposed to know.
The media and “Biden” (for the same reasons) did their very bestest to ensure you wouldn’t / shouldn’t / couldn’t know because, well, if you somehow did find out, that would mess up the Narrative(TM)—and make you more aware of what Israel was / is / will be up against.
Maybe even enable you to UNDERSTAND WTF was / is going on.
And “Biden” and “his” revolting compadres—that posse—of Israel lynchers CAN’T HAVE THAT, NO most certainly NOT!
(Jes’ doin’ their job, jes’ doin’ their job…)