A New Wave of Israeli Attacks on Lebanon

Israel launched a new wave of airstrikes on Lebanon today. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, the strikes have killed at least 182 people and wounded more than 700 others. This appears to be the first stage in a major assault on Lebanon. The Israeli government is choosing a larger war, and the Biden administration has done nothing to stop them.

The latest attacks followed a toothless warning from Washington against further escalation. The NSC spokesman John Kirby said that “ we don’t believe that escalating this military conflict is in their best interest,” but this sort of appeal is useless when dealing with a government that has been eager to escalate for months. The president said that the administration was “going to do everything we can to keep a wider war from breaking out,” but we already know that they won’t do the one thing – cutting off arms transfers – that might make the Israeli government think twice about this.

The U.S. continues to arm Israeli forces and deploys its own military assets to help shield Israel from the consequences of their own actions. That has given Netanyahu the means and the opportunity to set more of the region ablaze, and that is what he is doing. If the Biden administration genuinely wanted to stop what is happening, they could likely do it in short order, but they would rather indulge the fantasy that Israel can somehow bomb Hezbollah into quiescence without triggering a larger conflict.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that “the actions will continue until we achieve our goal to return the northern residents safely to their homes,” but that is exactly what escalation in Lebanon will not achieve. Heavier bombing of Lebanon will lead to intensified reprisals from Hezbollah. Northern Israel will not be more secure as a result, and the entire country will come under missile attack.

Read the rest of the article at Eunomia

Daniel Larison is a contributing editor for Antiwar.com and maintains his own site at Eunomia. He is former senior editor at The American Conservative. He has been published in the New York Times Book Review, Dallas Morning News, World Politics Review, Politico Magazine, Orthodox Life, Front Porch Republic, The American Scene, and Culture11, and was a columnist for The Week. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago, and resides in Lancaster, PA. Follow him on Twitter.