Israeli officials say Tel Aviv is preparing for an all-out war in Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah. Washington is concerned such a conflict would drag in the US, and the White House is attempting to prevent the hostilities from expanding.
On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted a statement on its X account saying that top commanders had signed off on battle plans for an offensive in Lebanon. “The Commanding Officer of the Northern Command and the Head of the Operations Directorate approved operational plans,” the IDF wrote. “Plans for an offensive in Lebanon were approved and validated, and decisions were taken on the continuation of increasing the readiness of troops in the field.”
Following the Hamas attack on October 7, the IDF began tit-for-tat raids along the Israel-Lebanon border. As the conflict has ground on, both sides have escalated their operations, with Israel carrying out assassinations and strikes deeper inside Lebanon in recent weeks. Hezbollah has responded by launching larger missile volleys at Israel.
Over the past day, Hezbollah has not attacked any targets in northern Israel, while Tel Aviv has pummeled sites around Tyre, Lebanon. It is speculated that the lack of Hezbollah strikes is because the organization is observing a unilateral ceasefire to mark the Eid al-Adha holiday.
US officials said the increased fighting has the White House concerned Israel will drag the US into a wider war in the Middle East. Washington dispatched the deputy assistant to President Biden, Amos Hochstein, to Israel and Lebanon to try to quell the tensions.
However, Hochstein apparently failed to find any practical solution to the violence that has killed nearly 500 in Lebanon and 26 in Israel in recent months. The US official suggested that once a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza, then fighting would fizzle out on Israel’s northern border.
President Biden admitted last week that a ceasefire deal in Gaza is unlikely anytime soon. Additionally, a senior Israeli official told the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that the IDF plans to continue operations in Gaza after Rafah is destroyed.
Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, said that Tel Aviv was near to a decision to go to war, warning that the conflict would destroy Hezbollah but also cause destruction in Lebanon and Israel. “We are very close to the moment of decision to change the rules against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In an all-out war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be severely hit,” he posted on X. “The State of Israel will pay a price on the front and home fronts, but with a strong and united nation, and the full power of the IDF, we will restore security to the residents of the north.”
The FM also referenced a video published by Hezbollah showing potential sensitive Israeli targets, such as ports and missile defense sites.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
Biden has made me complicit in genocide. I'm pissed.
Nah. We've always been. He just made it more obvious.
Only true if you vote for him again.
To my mind, in democracies, every voter gets a 'mulligan' when they vote for a "good option" that turns out to suck like the rest. Doubling-down on that candidate again, tho – no.
Biden a decisionmaker? Please. If the eventsof last month have not shown us the reality, we are all consciously blind. At such a dangerous times in history US president is a very frail and a confused man. Who is realy making decisions?
Secretary of Defence is living in his own bubble, often just speaking to rephrase some stale old narrative.
It appears those that are forced to keep up the fasade are desparately trying to hang on to status quo, but the ground is moving from underneath them. Nobody is exploiting it better than Natanyahu.
Dear Washington, I'm concerned ….. tbc
How is this going to drag in the US? We tell him not to do it, he does it? Let him FAFO. I could see providing some support if Syria/Hezbollah/Lebanon threaten to move into Israel proper, ie come down from the Golan heights.
like this: they start it, they massacre a bunch of people but fail to "win" as Hezbollah does not surrender, atrocities are committed, the Israel contingent in Congress starts agitating for help for our great ally (TM), we get in just like 1982 under a much better president.
Smoke and mirrors. The US lunatics want the wider war.
"Syria/Hezbollah/Lebanon threaten to move into Israel proper," They would get cut to ribbons if they tried that. They can play defense and stay in their underground forts, but to go on offensive requires them to go into the open. IAF would have a field day.
You talk as if Israel would "go into the open" if their enemies were supported and armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art weaponry. They wouldn't.
Israel would rely on the tried and true dropping U.S. provided bombs.
I suspect Timothy is of the camp that expects America's enemies to play by pre-19th-century rules of war (bright uniforms, tight lines & columns of men, swords only) to make their destruction so much easier and quicker.
I recall the headline from The Onion :
BRITISH NAVY CONDEMNS GERMAN U-BOATS AS 'NOT VERY SPORTING'
Were that to happen, Israel would not do their usual bombing, leveling buildings. The IDF would have to fight mano a mano. Recent history has shown that the IDF is ill equipped to fight the "army of G-d". At that point, we would jump in. American troops throughout the ME would be targets. The whole area would become a mess. Then Israel would use a nuke or two. You see, President Bidette (purposely named by me), really screwed up by orders of magnitude. His decisions (or maybe not his) have created two dangerous flashpoints. The cherry on top of the sundae is complicity in a genocide.
Yes,I theIDf is composed of people who want to live,their enemies worship martyrdom for their own people,not themselves.
How'd that work out on 10-7, sport?
The racist sexist Hamas deviates were repulsed,largely hunted down, and caused horrors for their own Palestinian people.
Your immoral attempt to shift the blame for Israel’s massive war crimes is noted and entirely predictable.
Newsflash! The old Zio-lies aren’t working anymore, no matter how loudly the ADL howls!
Zionism goood;never agaiin.
Never again for whom?
It’s happening again in Gaza.
Zionism=hypocrisy
Only Hamas follows the moslem Brotherhood,which followed Nazism.
Your comment is either stupid, laughably wrong, ignorant, or ALL THREE.
I'll give you FOUR guesses, Sully.
If Hamas is so NAZI, why did Israel provide them with so much support, even before Hamas gained state power in Gaza?
Bibi’s had quite a bit to say about this topic, and his administration was one of several that funneled millions to Hamas.
IMO, the deep connections between the Israeli Right and Hamas provided the network for the 10-7 stand down and the attacks on Israel.
The broken logic of the illogical clown Sully. "Anything that doesn't happen to ME or my CHOSEN SELECT GROUP is perfectly fine !"
jake is a walking Special Pleading Fallacy.
Is it always sunny in the inane fantasy world where you built a summer cabin but live there year-round, or, does it get dark at night like on the planet the rest of us actually live on ?
Oh probably so, I am just saying we should make it darn clear to them, that they are on their own. Our support of Israel's territory should begin and end at the 1967 borders. Outside that border, they are on their own, inside that border we provide lots of help. Big boy rules. Previous incursions into Lebanon haven't gone too well as I recall.
Hez can attack from underg4ound tunnels,similar to N.Korea.
They easily have over 4 tunnels.
Israel is like our little sister, but I'm not sure who is more evil.
Doing what isnecessary to survive is not evil.
Mr. Pithy has spoken.
Read and learn.
Proving my point once again.
You should. You REALLY should.
Survive? Against a group that has no army, navy, air force, 2,000 lbs bombs, you talk about survival. It is amazing that the Palestinians have survived 75 years of occupation, and, a brutal blockade. Survive? Israel? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
Hamas sacrificed the lives of 37,000 Palestinians in this war, to make a propaganda victory
Oh sure, how does 6 million sound to make a propaganda victory?
Killing tens of thousands of civilians is evil.
Supporting that slaughter is evil
QED Jack is evil
Hamas sent those civilians to slaughter,and anyone who cant see that is……
The people responsible for the tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza are the ones ordering the attacks, IOW Bibi and his pack of far right war criminals.
National liberation movements [like Hamas] are recognized as legitimate in countless UN resolutions, for instance, Res. 2625 which stipulates: “in pursuit of the exercise of their right to self-determination, peoples are entitled to seek and to receive support in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter.” National Liberation Movements have received wide recognition from the international community[22] and must not be branded “terrorists”. Indeed Article I(4) of the 1977 First Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions extends protection to members of NLMs, including “armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.”[23]
https://www.counterpunch.or…
And Israel chose to kill them.
Ultimately, you’re one evil supporter of genocide, mass murder, torture, racism and land theft.
Zionism = moral depravity.
That is a bit overhyped, Israel does not need to do this to survive.
They are fighting a long term war,with pincers being applied from all directions. This is only the begining,dealing with enemies who send others to martyrdom.
… and, thanks to Gary Meeks & Ben Cardin, those one ton bombs.
ICC should add these 2 to the list of elite.
fork theICC.
"Washington is concerned such a conflict would drag in the US…"
In other words, Washington has no choice once Israel decides to invade.
That would mean recruits to support Lebanon would come from everywhere. Hezbollah would jettison restraint.
Beirut would be fused.
Much of their infrastructure may have switched to circuit-breakers by now. But the cars certainly will have 5A, 10A, 20A fuses that I doubt are in short supply. Gotta be five, six UAP-NAPA shops in midtown Beirut at least. Get the multi-pack tho, ripoff buying individual fuses when dollars-t'-donuts another's gonna crap out on ya. My buddy Marko runs a '03 Cavalier & main board fried out four 10A in a go, I tell you what. Bulk, jake, buy bulk, like with motor oil. Them 1 litre jobbies, that's how they get ya.
Defeated in Gaza, Israel is looking for the Second One…!
"defeated in Gaza" Interesting statement.
Without the ability to bomb, strafe, just fight on the ground, Hamas has had the upper hand. I would surmise that elements of al-queda and others may have joined in.
What are the criteria for victory? If it is body counts Israel wins, if it is the removal of HAMAS as the governing body in Gaza, the jury is out. I half predict that at the end of this Bibi is in jail and HAMAS runs Gaza, so who wins?
The IDF can barely hold the ground it stands on. That’s defeat
Meanwhile,90% of Gaza is occupied-hahahahaha-but no sane person wants to live there or own it.
Jake,
You are losing all credibility.
Kid can't lose what he didn't have in the first place.
Lemme interrupt your sociopathic glee, Sully, and mention that people, Palestinians, DO want to live in their homes and homeland.
Simply that "the ethnicity you prefer" wants to devastate the place, ethnically cleanse it, bulldoze, rebuild, and settle it with humans you've decided you like better than other humans.
I don't expect honest answers from you, jake, but I think we'd all love to know why you choose to support the ASI at the cost of morality, decency, and respectability.
Is it a religious thing ? Do you think their s**t is true, the whole God's Chosen & biblical inerrancy and all that ? You're an idiot but I don't think you're THAT much of a twitt. Why ??
They just approved a plan!!! Really?
"Washington was trying to prevent the war between the IDF and Hezbollah from expanding."
Can we stop repeating that? There is ZERO evidence of that except this Israeli dual citizen Hochstein running around trying to convince the Lebanese government to act against Hezbollah. Which is a PR show just like everything else.
Funny how they keep threatening to destroy and obliterate other government's,peoples, societies, but even complain about it and then your a anti….
The Likud’s strategy has utterly failed on the Southern Front. The IDF barely holds the ground they stand on in Gaza. The vast Gaza Underground fortress remains intact; with workshops producing homemade weapons and ammo; a few hundred thousand new eager volunteers being trained by experienced Al-Qassem Soldiers; the underground fortress being expanded by older volunteers. 195 Merkavas destroyed, a few thousand IDF KIA’s, tens of thousands of IDF WIA, and IDF conscripts and weekend warriors demoralized and bickering.
AND the LIKUD now wants to take on a even more capable military on the Northern Front with an even more developed underground fortress ?????
For example:
…..Wednesday, June 19, 08:00 am
YEDIOTH AHRONOTH (citing Israeli Army Colonel Yair Tsukerman): The number of tunnels in the city of Rafah is large. Hamas plants many cameras in Rafah to manage the battle from above and below the ground……
So flood the tunnelsor ,flow nerve gas into them.
Gassing people. Is that how Israel's supporters think now?
Yep, genocidal extremists are emboldened to speak like this now.
As Malcolm said-by any means necessary.
Jake, the tunnels require power and fresh air. In other words, energy. The mistake the Israel had made in this war has been not crushing the energy system of Gaza in the first few weeks of the war. They won't make that mistake again in Southern Lebanon.
Right. Israel wasn't brutal ENOUGH.
I mean, good on the ASI for really holding off on their Final Solution ?
Lard tunderin', that country is a mess. Feel sorry for its citizens.
Aviod war,make peace, bend over backwards,be more than fair,but if war starts, all bets are off.
If only the ASI had ever tried the first four items on your list, instead of starting with "degrade, suppress, humiliate, impoverish" then jumping to "start war".
"Avoid war, make peace, bend over backwards, be more than fair"
Yet Israel did none of those things.
They never have, and as long as they have the USA as their pet poodle, they never will.
Oh fuck you. Now you're just being silly.
NOW ?
This can't be your first time seeing jake "hard-fart" on his keyboard and click COMMENT.
I know. But even for him, that was ridiculous.
This is why I am so fascinated by joke. That's his new name now. Nothing, NOTHING I can reply in jest seems to ever top the silly, stupid, inane nonsense he says in all seriousness.
It's like an arms race to me now; I just want to see if I can reply to him something more humorously baffling than what he says. So far, he leads the "missile gap".
That’s not how it works.
You really believe the underground fortress was laboriously built over the last decade without independent power and 12 months supplies stored 150 meters below ground ?
Tim – study the tunnels of ChuChi and now imagine a network created 50 years later.
If they burn diesel fuel-clog off their exhausts, put phosgene down them. Electricity has to have a source.
9 months in and the IDF engineers still
Getting lured into entering Booby trapped tunnels.
I SO want to make a joke about Hamas leaving a trail of coins leading into the tunnels, but I won't.
You can't burn a fuel-clog. That's the point of an inline fuel filter.
But at least your understanding of electricity (if nothing else) is above a second-grade level.
There is good A.I. out there for public use, Sully. Maybe give it your account and let it do your thinking for you. They haven't yet invented A.I. with its head up its a$$ so it's got that advantage on ya.
I believe Israel has already done so. You have to remember that Israel controlled the amounts and when electricity was allowed into Gaza. For years. Click off power. Sewage plants stop. Potable water too.
Fq you, ya war mongering pig.
Zionists suck azz!
Kill off the rest of the hostages?
I hope not,but many will be kept in captivity like the US MIAs,for decades,until they die.
Just to be clear tho, they'll be ALIVE, right ? "Dead but free" is kind of a tremendously stupid goal or life-aspiration.
Or, until Israel negotiates for their release, by agreeing to release their OWN set of hostages, many seized and never charged with a crime, languishing in Israeli prisons.
At least you show now where you are coming from.
Sully ! I see your seasonal allergy to punctuation & grammar is now a perennial affliction.
Tell us, Jake T. Snake-Roberts : who ELSE is down in those tunnels, and how do you know ?
HINT : Rhymes with "hostages", "children", "civilians", and "underground-hospital patients".
Hide in a fort with the bandits-get what they get-the bandits are responsible
I don't know what a "bandits-get" or a "get-the" is, but I DO know, Sully, that the SPACE bar on your keyboard will not accidentally launch you into outer space, so, don't be so afraid to use it.
If you mean a form of collective punishment or guilt-by-association (take notes on my hyphen use, Sully) then your "morality" is best wiped off your mouth, fingers, and butt, with toilet paper.
The medical facilities and bomb-proof environs of the Hamassian bunker warrens is THE safest place for civilians and critical-care patients to hide (a postmodern London Underground), especially from an enemy that has made it abundantly clear that hospitals and civilian infrastructure is "fair game".
Tell us, jake, what's your "acceptable civilian deaths per terrorist-kill" ? Mine is PRECISELY F**KING ZERO.
Like the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto, right? The SS Dirlewanger Brigade, in their AAR, referred to them as "bandits" too.
Only Germans traveled several hundred miles into Poland to get at the unarmed Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto-here Hamas attacked Israel right next door -the exact opposite-thank you.
So they were “worse” because they had a longer commute?
And the issue is not “who attacked who first”, that started long before Oct 7; the issue HERE is the attackers use of the word “Bandits” to describe those whom they are massacring; and in this, YOUR language mirrors that of Dirlewanger; you should be proud!
What's a "ghetto-here" or an "opposite-thank" ? Is yours some 1984 Newspeak jargon ?
Again – the TAB button will not bring you a 1980s diet soda, and the SPACE bar will not send you into the ionosphere. PLEASE USE THEM.
The use of chemical weapons is against international law; just the thought that Assad MIGHT use chemical weapons against the Syrian Jihadists (he did NOT), close relatives of HAMAS, was enough to get Obama and his pet monkey Biden to threaten war – war against Assad for the benefit of known terrorists. And Bush used it as justification for war with Saddam; that Saddam HAD used chemical weapons against Kurdish terrorists (errr…."rebels and freedom fighters") who were themselves sponsored and armed by Iran at the time.
Yet you endorse Israel doing this ultimate crossing of every red line ever set by civilized society, because "Israel". Hypocrite.
Is it better to use rape as a tool of war,as Hamas has done.
Nonsense; and there is no comparison. Prove that it was an “ordered” tactic, not just the actions of undisciplined individuals (Rape has also been committed by IDF members; by US troops in Afghanistan and Ukraine, and famously, in the hundreds, by US troops on the french population in France after D-Day). You Can’t, so your argument falls apart. Use of chemical weapons, on the other hand, is a direct violation of international law and will cost the Israelis what few reasonable supporters they still have. Hypocritical zealots like you will, of course, be unmoved; just like the diehard supporters of Hitler at the time of his death.
Comparing jake to "diehard supporters of Hitler" is oddly appropriate. And accurate. And concise.
He uses the exact same rhetoric, which is why I made the comparison.
Objection – assumes facts not entered into evidence.
Provide valid, verified evidence from independent confirmatory sources, or you're just repeating propagandist tropes.
Yup. You can see those cameras in the Hamas footage aired by Richard Medhurst and The Electronic Intifada live streams on Youtube. This is the first guerrilla war that has pre-recorded footage available within a day of the engagements. Follow Jon Elmer on Twitter to see footage of Israeli soldiers getting sniped and blown up.
Richard Medhurst On YT is a fascinating analyst. Worth watching
Typical review of combat footage by Richard
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N51xmP-EwSU
Where on or off earth did you get a figure of thousands of IGD KIA? Most of Hamas weapons are imported by inflamatory foreign parties. Have you counted these supposed hundreds of thousand new terrorists being trained by Hamas?
The combat footage shows simple weapons easily made in a garage style machine shop. It’s also likely that certain equipment was purchased direct from disgruntled Istaelis. Finally beaucoup weapons, equipment, and explosives have been captured from the IDF.
It’s simple to estimate that the IDF genocidal carpet bombing has generated a huge number of eager volunteers for Al-Qassem. Bet the underground fortress is filled with recruits
Just like our torture chambers became known (Bush era and beyond) increased recruits.
"a few thousand IDF KIA" Where did you get that number?
A few thousand KIA very likely a undercount, given the nature of failing to secure any ground in 9 months of attacking the underground fortress. The IDF has been outgunned, outmanned, and out fought consistently.
Previous face to face battles were not good for the IDF.
Face to face? You don't spend 10 billion a year to engage in a face to face battle. It is not a fair fight, it will never be a fair fight unless somebody somewhere really messed up. Be as brave and as tough as you want to be but the cannon shell dropping down on your head from 10 miles away won't be impressed. Their best option is to hide, which is what they are basically doing.
I am consistently amused when the USA or ASI expect their vastly outmatched opponents to muster out in red-and-white Napoleonic era uniforms and form firing-lines behind a sabre-wielding marshal on horseback.
To quote a fine Oyresh song :
"come tell us how you slew / them ol' arabs two by two / like the zulus they had knives and bows and arrows / of how bravely you faced one / with your sixteen-pounder gun / and you frightened them damn'd natives to the marrow."
I just have to warn you, you are giving off a Baghdad Bob, kind of vibe here. I am opposed to the Israeli actions in Gaza but HAMAS is massively overmatched by the IDF and is incapable of protecting Gaza's citizens.
Thanks for the criticism. Shocking but true – the IDF is being completely out fought. Hence the Blind Rage atrocities – the sure sign of a defeated army.
Watch a few dozen combat footage videos and get back to me.i suspect you’ll
Change your mind after seeing the hapless IDF getting thrashed, making the same noob mistakes o er and over and over again.
IDF is inflicting ten to one casualties.no one wins. By the way,how many wars have you fought in/
Why would we use a Norwegian domain website for casualty figures ?
Actually, the USA is inflicting many if not most of the casualties, by permitting the use of our bombs, bullets, missiles, and aircraft. The IDF are just the delivery boys. And yes, the use of the term "boys" is intended to be a derogatory slur on their (lack of) manhood.
Yup. Because they know Biden will jump in with both feet (because he's too mental to be able to stand on them.)
If it were not for American-made bombs and jets, and the IDF would have to fight the "army of G-d" on equal terms, on the ground, Hezbollah would rout the IDF. What could happen is this: Hezbollah may toss aside caution and throw is significant number of rockets at critical sites in Israel that would cause mass deaths, chaos. Chlorine plants, etc. What Hezbollah lacks and what Iran has not provided to Hezbollah are defensive weapons that can knock jets and drones out of the sky. Iran has been careful not to do so. So far.
The Lebanese produce their own weapons in their underground workshops. Been doing so for years.
BTW in 2006, the IDF was routed by the Lebanese.
"But THIS time it'll be DIFFERENT…!"
#eyeroll
"…top commanders had signed off on battle plans for an offensive in Lebanon."
I'm curious if these IDF commanders use a rubber stamp on paper, or just click the e-signature option in an editable PDF. Because there doesn't seem to be much more thought than that put into this.
Also – how dooshy IS the IDF to do this on Twitter like they's gat-damn'd 17 y/o influencers ?
LOL
They are posturing to get Hamas to back down-very simple. Feel better.
What's a "down-very" ?
Personally, I find the IDF extremely offensive.
I do not think it is in US interest to be drawn into another war. But then, I am not sure who is making decisions in the White House. It is not likely Biden can handle the complexities of the situation. It appears Blinken is in charge. Nobody else seems to be the part of decision making. Sullivan and Kirby sound most of the time as spokespeople.
But why maintain the capacity to "fight two-and-a-half wars simultaneously" if you can't or won't fight 2-1/2 wars ???