Israel Has A History Of Failed Invasions Of Lebanon

Latest stories

Israel invasion could push Lebanon into total state collapse

It's becoming harder to get super-rich in China

Sinking feeling engulfs China submarine program

Israel invaded Lebanon in 2006 in a bid to wipe out Hezbollah. It failed to achieve its objective. After 34 days of bloody fighting and substantial costs for both sides, it accepted a United Nations Security Council resolution for a ceasefire , with Hezbollah emerging triumphant.

Defiant warfare

Netanyahu feels confident of success this time. He also has the backing of his extremist ministers, especially those of national security, finance and defense. He depends on their support for his domestic political survival.

Israel has more firepower than ever before. It has displayed it in the Gaza war while revenging Hamas's killing of more than 1,000 Israelis and abducting some 240 Israeli and foreign nationals on October 7 .

In scorched-earth operations, the Israel Defense Forces have flattened swathes of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 40,000 of its civilians – 35% of them were children – with two million more having been repeatedly displaced.

In this, the Netanyahu leadership has ignored the norms of warfare, international humanitarian law, a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire, and the International Court of Justice's warning against genocidal actions .

Further, he has brazenly deflected widespread global condemnation of Israeli actions.

Buttressing his defiant stance has been the United States'“iron-clad” military, financial and economic support of Israel. Washington has just approved a further US$8.7 billion aid package in support of Israel's Lebanon campaign.

Netanyahu has had no compelling reason even to be amiable to Washington's calls for restraint or ceasefire.

Will this time be different?

Netanyahu's confidence is reinforced still further by Israel's nuclear capability. Although undeclared, Israel reportedly possesses many nuclear weapons for regional deterrence and military supremacy in the region.

Netanyahu and his supporters have claimed their use of disproportionate force to be legitimate in self-defense against what it calls the terrorist tentacles (Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah) of the Iranian octopus .

With the US and several of its Western and regional Arab allies having shared his posture, Israel is now focused once more on the unfinished business of uprooting Hezbollah.

Hezbollah forms a key element of Iran's“axis of resistance” against Israel and the US. Netanyahu knows destroying the group would mean the breakup of Iran's national and regional security system. He is not averse to risking a direct confrontation with Iran while remaining assured of full US support in such an event.

Tehran cannot be expected to abandon Hezbollah, but it also has other domestic and foreign policy priorities. Newly elected Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has assumed power with promises to reduce theocratic political and social restrictions and improve living conditions for most Iranians.

Pezeshkian is also committed to improving Iran's regional and international relations, including reopening negotiations with the West (particularly the US) regarding Iran's nuclear program , so as to end US-led sanctions.

Pezeshkian appears to have the backing of the powerful Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has shown a willingness to be pragmatic when needed. His foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has stated that Hezbollah is capable of defending itself .