Israel is pulverizing Lebanon again -- and plans to stick around

Of course the US/Israeli war on Iran is getting most of our focus in this country. Thanks to the Orange Toddler's folly, we'll all be paying higher gas and more widely inflated prices on everything -- and if that's the worst blowback, we'll be lucky. Nothing about Trump's war gives me any confidence.

Meanwhile, Israel is taking the opportunity to try to kill off its Hezbollah enemies and a lot of other people in Lebanon. Over 1,000 have died in Lebanon since beginning of March, with more than 2,700 injured, according to Lebanese health officials. Over one million Lebanese have been driven from their homes -- that's in a country of slightly less than six million, 16 percent of the population.

 

As the reporter in the news clip explains, Israel plans for its invading troops to occupy much of southern Lebanon.

 

Lebanon's national government, of which Hezbollah represents a faction within a divided civil society, is seeking a ceasefire with Israel. Lebanese government authorities want negotiations if possible.

[The prime minister of Lebanon] Nawaf Salam told CNN World in an exclusive interview [published March 19] that he sought a ceasefire “yesterday, not tomorrow,” as the death toll from Israel’s onslaught against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reached 1,000. More than 100 of the dead are children, according to Lebanese officials.

 

... The prospect of a negotiated end to the conflict in Lebanon, which began 17 days ago when Hezbollah fired projectiles into Israel to avenge the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has dissipated over the past 48 hours as Israel’s military campaign has focused on a wider ground invasion. France has suggested some ideas for a settlement, Salam said, and there are contacts with US officials. Yet he shied away from suggesting actual talks have begun. ...

 

... One of the likely sticking points will be that Lebanon does not recognize the state of Israel. ... 

 

...  [Salam] rejected any involvement by foreign troops and insisted that Lebanese territorial integrity was central to a peace deal.

Israel has pushed farther into Lebanon in the past week, and concerns are mounting it seeks to create a deeper “buffer zone” along the border. Israeli forces are occupying the land south of the Litani River, an area it has called on Lebanese to evacuate.

“We cannot accept any buffer zone, security zone, any infringement on our sovereignty,” Salam said. “We cannot negotiate any form of treaty, deal or arrangement with Israel (before our) sovereignty is fully restored.”

To repurpose a dictum attributed to the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz: "“Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the US.” Poor Lebanon: so close to God, so close to the state of Israel.