U.S.-Funded Armies Fight Each Other In Lebanon

“The fighting between the U.S.-funded army of Israel and the U.S.-funded army of Lebanon seems to be another such consequence of U.S. policy. When the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and Israel began fighting last year, the Lebanese government tried its best to stay out of the fray. It reportedly even pulled troops away from the border when Israel announced a ground invasion and ordered Lebanese citizens to evacuate north of the Awali River. But on Thursday, the Lebanese army announced that it had, in fact, been sucked into the conflict.
“One of the soldiers was martyred as a result of the Israeli enemy targeting an army center in the area of Bint Jbeil South, and the center’s personnel have responded to the source of fire,” the army stated on social media. An official in Lebanon told Agence France-Presse that it was the first time the Lebanese army fired on Israeli forces throughout the war.

Two hours before, the Lebanese army had announced that one of its soldiers was killed by Israeli fire while “carrying out an evacuation and rescue mission alongside the Lebanese Red Cross in the town of Taybeh-Marjayoun,” down the road from Odaisseh, a town that several Israeli troops were killed trying to enter on Wednesday morning. The Red Cross said that four of its paramedics were injured, and the Israeli army said that it would be investigating the incident.”

https://reason.com/2024/10/03/u-s-funded-armies-fight-each-other-in-lebanon/

Tanks Repulsed in Lebanon: Invasion Stalls On Second Day

Israel’s invasion of Lebanon may not go well. Just pushing Hezbollah to the Litani River will be tough due to varied and difficult terrain and hardened Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah can operate defensively despite losing several leaders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2WDpMPalP0

Tanks Repulsed in Lebanon: Invasion Stalls On Second Day

Israel’s invasion of Lebanon may not go well. Just pushing Hezbollah to the Litani River will be tough due to varied and difficult terrain and hardened Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah can operate defensively despite losing several leaders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2WDpMPalP0

US officials quietly backed Israel’s military push against Hezbollah

“Senior White House figures privately told Israel that the U.S. would support its decision to ramp up military pressure against Hezbollah — even as the Biden administration publicly urged the Israeli government in recent weeks to curtail its strikes, according to American and Israeli officials.
Presidential adviser Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East, told top Israeli officials in recent weeks that the U.S. agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s broad strategy to shift Israel’s military focus to the north against Hezbollah in order to convince the group to engage in diplomatic talks to end the conflict, the officials told POLITICO.

Not everyone in the administration was on board with Israel’s shift, despite support inside the White House, the officials said. The decision to focus on Hezbollah sparked division within the U.S. government, drawing opposition from people inside the Pentagon, State Department and intelligence community who believed Israel’s move against the Iran-backed militia could drag American forces into yet another Middle East conflict.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/30/us-israel-military-hezbollah-00181797

Israel launches ground operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon

“Israel began a “limited” ground operation in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, in a significant escalation of its conflict against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a post on X that they were conducting “localized and targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence against Hezbollah terrorist targets and infrastructure” in villages close to the Israel-Lebanon border.

The decision to send troops into Lebanon begins a new phase of the conflict, and comes after intense Israeli bombing that on Friday killed Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike in southern Beirut. It came in response to Hezbollah’s campaign of cross-border strikes on Israel, which began a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.”

https://www.politico.eu/article/israel-ground-operation-hezbollah-lebanon/

The Israeli attacks in Lebanon could lead to the wider war we’ve been fearing

“A diplomatic solution, perhaps one in which Hezbollah agrees to remove its positions close to Lebanon’s southern border, is certainly possible. That would allow Israelis to move back to their homes in the north. Whatever the outcome, however, Israel will likely not be able to eliminate Hezbollah, just as it has failed at eliminating Hamas. And continued aggression could lead to more extreme outcomes in the future.”

https://www.vox.com/israel/373428/lebanon-hezbollah-israel-hamas-gaza

Mike Kofman and Rob Lee on the West’s Aid to Ukraine, and the Debate Over Red Lines and Escalation

Mike Kofman and Rob Lee on the West’s Aid to Ukraine, and the Debate Over Red Lines and Escalation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWeno1zEc0E