As the Middle East reaches the brink of war, the imperialist powers — and their unwavering support for Israel, the genocide of Gazans, and the expansion of West Bank colonization — are responsible.
Révolution Permanente
September 23, 2024
In the past week, Israel has brutally intensified its attacks on Lebanon, launching two waves of large-scale terrorist attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday before massively bombing southern Lebanon. Blowing up thousands of communication devices across the country, first pagers and then radio systems, Israel plunged Lebanon into terror, killing around thirty people and wounding several thousand. Overnight from Thursday to Friday, the Israeli air force pounded border regions, indiscriminately hitting dozens of villages. At the same time, the Israeli government continuously threatened Lebanon throughout the week, claiming that “the center of gravity of the war had shifted to the north” and that Israel had “entered a new phase of the war.”
Israel pushed its campaign against Lebanon even further: targeting a Hezbollah leader in Beirut, Israel struck a residential building in the southern suburbs four times, causing dozens of casualties. The target was Ibrahim Aqil, one of Hezbollah’s most important military leaders and a member of the Jihad Council, the leadership of the organization’s military branch. Alongside the new leader of the military wing, ten elite Hezbollah commanders were also killed in the attack.
Humiliated by these recent massive attacks on its members, Hezbollah now finds itself in an impossible position. The party cannot ignore these repeated affronts that destroy its credibility, and retaliated by firing rockets into Israel, targeting a town just north of Haifa on Sunday morning. Israel has responded with another round of bombings — the deadliest attacks by Israel in Lebanon to date — which brings the death toll to at least 274 people and has injured over 1,000 people. According to Lebanese officials, the Israeli attacks have targeted medical centers, ambulances, and cars of people trying to flee.
It is clear that Israel wants to push Hezbollah into war. Clashes with Hezbollah have already forced 60,000 Israelis to leave the region and near-daily Israeli bombings in Lebanon since October 8 have displaced close to 110,000 people. War now seems to be the path favored by Netanyahu. While the Far Right already dreams of recolonizing the region south of the Litani River, the Israeli military openly talks about the need to impose a “security zone” in Lebanon — in other words, an invasion of the country.
Since October 7, the region has never been closer to escalating into all-out war — and the imperialist powers are entirely responsible. For eleven months, they have granted Israel total freedom of action, delivering tons and tons of weapons and ammunition used to massacre the Palestinian people in Gaza. The imperialist powers, led by the United States, have ruthlessly suppressed solidarity mobilizations for Palestine that have ignited worldwide. Militarily, morally, and economically supported by imperialist countries, Israel has been able to continue its massacre in Gaza with impunity, forcing two million Gazans to leave their homes, reducing the area to rubble, almost entirely annexing the West Bank, and bombing nearly all neighboring countries: Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Iran.
In the Red Sea, these same powers, organized within an international coalition led by the United States, have repeatedly bombed Yemen, directly involving themselves in the escalation. Benefiting from the unwavering support of its imperialist allies, Israel feels emboldened and is now directly attacking Lebanon, crossing all the “red lines” week after week that could have prevented the outbreak of an all-out war. While the Zionist Far Right has put the project of “Greater Israel” — a Jewish state stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates — on the agenda and the government hopes to “solve” its Palestinian problem once and for all, the Israeli state is threatening more than ever to wage a devastating war on Lebanon, for which the population will pay the price in fire and blood.
Despite the recent calls for calm from the Biden administration which fears getting involved in a new conflict on the eve of elections, and Emmanuel Macron’s change in tone in defense of France’s material interests in Lebanon, the imperialist powers cannot hide their responsibility. Faced with the deadly threat posed by the Israeli state to Lebanon, only the struggle of the working class and oppressed of all countries in the region can prevent the impending bloodbath. Israel has embarked on a dead-end path that could be irreversible if Israeli workers do not decisively break with the colonial ambitions of the Zionist Israeli state and mobilize to put an end to the genocide in Palestine. This perspective is all the more central given that, while opposition to Netanyahu is growing in Israel, the massive mobilizations offer no progressive solution in the current situation. In this context, and in a moment when Israel will become even more dependent on supplies from its imperialist allies if it wages war in Lebanon, mobilizations in solidarity with Palestine around the world are indispensable.
End the bombings and Israeli terror in Lebanon! Hands off Lebanon! The United States is responsible: no weapons to Israel! Stop the genocide in Gaza!
Translated and adapted from the original French, published in Révolution Permanente on September 20.
In the past week, Israel has brutally intensified its attacks on Lebanon, launching two waves of large-scale terrorist attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday before massively bombing southern Lebanon. Blowing up thousands of communication devices across the country, first pagers and then radio systems, Israel plunged Lebanon into terror, killing around thirty people and wounding several thousand. Overnight from Thursday to Friday, the Israeli air force pounded border regions, indiscriminately hitting dozens of villages. At the same time, the Israeli government continuously threatened Lebanon throughout the week, claiming that “the center of gravity of the war had shifted to the north” and that Israel had “entered a new phase of the war.”
Israel pushed its campaign against Lebanon even further: targeting a Hezbollah leader in Beirut, Israel struck a residential building in the southern suburbs four times, causing dozens of casualties. The target was Ibrahim Aqil, one of Hezbollah’s most important military leaders and a member of the Jihad Council, the leadership of the organization’s military branch. Alongside the new leader of the military wing, ten elite Hezbollah commanders were also killed in the attack.
Humiliated by these recent massive attacks on its members, Hezbollah now finds itself in an impossible position. The party cannot ignore these repeated affronts that destroy its credibility, and retaliated by firing rockets into Israel, targeting a town just north of Haifa on Sunday morning. Israel has responded with another round of bombings — the deadliest attacks by Israel in Lebanon to date — which brings the death toll to at least 274 people and has injured over 1,000 people. According to Lebanese officials, the Israeli attacks have targeted medical centers, ambulances, and cars of people trying to flee.
It is clear that Israel wants to push Hezbollah into war. Clashes with Hezbollah have already forced 60,000 Israelis to leave the region and near-daily Israeli bombings in Lebanon since October 8 have displaced close to 110,000 people. War now seems to be the path favored by Netanyahu. While the Far Right already dreams of recolonizing the region south of the Litani River, the Israeli military openly talks about the need to impose a “security zone” in Lebanon — in other words, an invasion of the country.
Since October 7, the region has never been closer to escalating into all-out war — and the imperialist powers are entirely responsible. For eleven months, they have granted Israel total freedom of action, delivering tons and tons of weapons and ammunition used to massacre the Palestinian people in Gaza. The imperialist powers, led by the United States, have ruthlessly suppressed solidarity mobilizations for Palestine that have ignited worldwide. Militarily, morally, and economically supported by imperialist countries, Israel has been able to continue its massacre in Gaza with impunity, forcing two million Gazans to leave their homes, reducing the area to rubble, almost entirely annexing the West Bank, and bombing nearly all neighboring countries: Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Iran.
In the Red Sea, these same powers, organized within an international coalition led by the United States, have repeatedly bombed Yemen, directly involving themselves in the escalation. Benefiting from the unwavering support of its imperialist allies, Israel feels emboldened and is now directly attacking Lebanon, crossing all the “red lines” week after week that could have prevented the outbreak of an all-out war. While the Zionist Far Right has put the project of “Greater Israel” — a Jewish state stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates — on the agenda and the government hopes to “solve” its Palestinian problem once and for all, the Israeli state is threatening more than ever to wage a devastating war on Lebanon, for which the population will pay the price in fire and blood.
Despite the recent calls for calm from the Biden administration which fears getting involved in a new conflict on the eve of elections, and Emmanuel Macron’s change in tone in defense of France’s material interests in Lebanon, the imperialist powers cannot hide their responsibility. Faced with the deadly threat posed by the Israeli state to Lebanon, only the struggle of the working class and oppressed of all countries in the region can prevent the impending bloodbath. Israel has embarked on a dead-end path that could be irreversible if Israeli workers do not decisively break with the colonial ambitions of the Zionist Israeli state and mobilize to put an end to the genocide in Palestine. This perspective is all the more central given that, while opposition to Netanyahu is growing in Israel, the massive mobilizations offer no progressive solution in the current situation. In this context, and in a moment when Israel will become even more dependent on supplies from its imperialist allies if it wages war in Lebanon, mobilizations in solidarity with Palestine around the world are indispensable.
End the bombings and Israeli terror in Lebanon! Hands off Lebanon! The United States is responsible: no weapons to Israel! Stop the genocide in Gaza!
Translated and adapted from the original French, published in Révolution Permanente on September 20.
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