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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

New Israel onslaught in Lebanon

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

Battles rage across the Lebanese frontier as Hezbollah militiamen fight to drive Israeli forces back over the border. The Israelis say they’re carrying out “limited, localised and targeted” raids against Hezbollah inside Lebanon. But the Israeli incursion and the continued bombing of Beirut and other civilian targets in Lebanon looks more like the start of yet another Zionist attempt to crush all Arab resistance to their dream of a “Greater Israel”.

At the UN General Assembly meeting in New York last week Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “winning” the war against what he calls “terrorists and their patrons in Iran”.

“I have a message for the tyrants of Tehran,” the Israeli leader said. “If you strike us, we will strike you. “There is no place – there is no place – in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that’s true of the entire Middle East”.

Netanyahu said Israel’s soldiers have fought with “incredible courage and with heroic sacrifice” for the past 11 months. “And I have another message for this assembly and for the world outside this hall: We are winning.” But few stayed in the hall to hear his rants as a stream of world leaders and other delegates walked out when he rose to the rostrum.

The Israeli invasion follows a week of intense violence. The assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah – killed in an Israeli air-raid in Beirut – was rapidly followed by a Palestinian guerilla attack in the heart of the Israeli capital and a devastating Iranian missile salvo on the Zionist entity. And Hezbollah say they have already beaten back two Israeli probes and at least 10 Israeli troops have been killed and dozens more wounded in partisan ambushes across the Lebanese border.

The Zionists and the Americans rejoiced over the death of Nasrallah, but retribution was soon to come in a salvo of over 180 Iranian missiles on Israeli military targets including the Nevatim air base that was so badly damaged that it is now inoperable. At least 20 F-35 warplanes are confirmed damaged or destroyed, as well as tanks, gas platforms, vehicle repair stations and hangars. At the same time Hezbollah targeted Israel’s Glilot military base and Mossad headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv with salvos of their own rockets. And in Tel Aviv two members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades launched an attack that left seven Israelis dead and another 16 injured before they, themselves, were gunned down.

This week Iranian President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said a “decisive response” was given to the Zionist regime’s aggression in line with the country’s “legitimate rights of self-defence… this operation was carried out in defence of Iran’s interests and citizens. Let Netanyahu know that Iran is not belligerent, but it stands firm against any threat. This is only a fraction of our power. Do not engage in conflict with Iran”. And Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Iranian armed forces had “solely targeted” the Israeli military bases responsible for the genocide in Gaza and Lebanon.

Russia says Israel must “immediately” withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon and halt hostilities that continue to further destabilise the region. In Moscow the Russian foreign ministry urged Israel to “immediately cease hostilities, withdraw their troops from Lebanese territory and engage in a real search for peaceful ways to resolve the Middle East conflict”. In a separate statement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the government was deeply concerned over Israeli airstrikes on Damascus on Tuesday. “We are witnessing together that the geography of hostilities is expanding, which is further destabilising the region and increasing tensions.”