by Farrukh Abadi
On Monday, the Pentagon announced it was deploying “a small number of additional U.S. military personnel forward to augment forces already in the region” following Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon that killed almost 500 people and injured over 1,600. The US currently has about 40,000 troops stationed in the region.
The US has continually adjusted its military presence in the region to defend its imperialist interests. Following the US-Israel assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July, the US deployed a number of additional forces to the region, including redeploying an aircraft carrier from the Pacific. As a semi-colony, Israel is highly dependent on the US and other imperialist powers for armaments, funding, and defense to continue its genocide and forced displacement of Palestinians, and the US is keen on defending its interests represented in the Zionist project. A highly anticipated aerial attack from Iran earlier this year in April was almost entirely struck down by US, UK, and French forces in the region as well as the US-funded Iron Dome system. However, even these defenses are proving to be insufficient, as a recent hypersonic missile from the Ansarallah-affiliated Yemeni Armed Forces successfully struck a military target near Tel Aviv, causing widespread panic and forcing over 2 million Israelis to take shelter.
Although Israel and Hezbollah have been trading rocket strikes since October 8, Israel’s escalation on its northern front comes amid being bogged down in Gaza by the Palestinian national resistance while also proving unable to secure any significant victories in the West Bank, facing increasingly organized and armed resistance. The Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly made phony claims that it wants de-escalation between Hezbollah and Israel while continuing to send in troops and arm Israel, providing diplomatic cover to the Zionist genocidaires just like with its false cease-fire proposals in Gaza.
Israel’s latest round of airstrikes on Lebanon is its deadliest attack on the country since its 2006 invasion of Lebanon. According to the Lebanese Health Ministry, the airstrikes targeted medical sites, including hospitals, medical centers, and ambulances and resulted in numerous civilian casualties. The attacks come less than a week after Israel remotely detonated pagers and walkie-talkies across Lebanon, killing 37 and injuring thousands.
Israel’s attacks combine targeted assassinations of militants of the Lebanese anti-imperialist group Hezbollah as well as psychological warfare and terror tactics aimed at the civilian population. Israel’s history of targeted assassinations have not only failed to weaken the resolve of anti-imperialist groups but have served to strengthen and increasingly unite them. For example, the assassinations of Hamas leaders Saleh al-Arouri and Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Fouad Shukr earlier this year have elicited strong responses from their respective organizations and led to coordinated attacks between anti-imperialist forces in the region.
Though Israel has claimed its attacks are aimed at deterring Hezbollah, it has failed to achieve that goal, instead only spreading its genocidal campaign. Hezbollah has already retaliated, launching over 100 rockets and long-range missiles—the latter being the first time since October 8—across the border, targeting military bases and military industrial facilities across a wide area of Israel and sending over a million Israelis to take shelter. Hezbollah reiterated that it will not stop its attacks until Israel withdraws from Gaza. Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades also reportedly launched missiles at northern Israel from within Lebanon, demonstrating a qualitatively higher degree of unity between the two forces. Tens of thousands of Israelis living in the border area have been evacuated since early October, continuing to add pressure to the already strained Israeli economy.
Israel has been planning an invasion of Lebanon since October. In late June, the Israeli war cabinet authorized war plans against Lebanon, and earlier in the month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled his intention to escalate. It is unclear whether an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon is imminent or if it is only focusing on air attacks for the time being. The last time Israel invaded Lebanon was in 2006, resulting in Israel’s humiliating defeat by Hezbollah.
Israel and the US are still bracing for a much-anticipated retaliation from Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Ansarallah in response to the assassination of Haniyeh on Iranian soil. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah previously stated that “the wait is part of the punishment.” Hamas has also reportedly been undergoing reorganization recently to prepare for a new stage of combat as the anniversary of October 7 looms over Israel and its handlers.
