Alongside the onslaught on Iran, US imperialism and its Zionist regional proxy have seized the opportunity to reignite their war against the Hezbollah-led resistance in Lebanon. Zionist warplanes have massacred residents of a region extending from Lebanon’s southern border to Beirut and displaced over a million people. The 16 April ‘ceasefire’ brokered by the imperialists was marked by constant violations, with the Zionists applying the same tactics used in Gaza of displacement, destruction and annexation. Central to US strategy in Lebanon is a mission to recolonise the country for imperialist dominance, seeing off their European competitors, and to this end it is more than willing to greenlight Zionist expansionism. Yet these pipedreams rely on an ever-elusive goal: defeating and disarming Hezbollah, which today represents the frontline of resistance to the Zionist occupation of Lebanon.
Phoney ceasefires and Zionist massacres
By 16 April, 2,294 people had been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon and over 7,185 wounded. Beirut was heavily hit, with 8 April dubbed ‘black Wednesday’ after a particularly bloody day of Zionist massacres.
Under pressure to reach a ceasefire with Iran, US imperialists forced a calming of Israeli bombings in Lebanon. The ten-day ceasefire announced by Trump on 16 April was the result of ‘direct talks’ between Israel and the pro-imperialist Lebanese state. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem emphasised that the invaders had been forced into this agreement, noting that despite its mobilisation of 100,000 troops, it was still unable to reach the Litani River – a geographical boundary that carries huge strategic and symbolic significance for the Zionists. Qassem warned that the resistance kept its ‘hands on the trigger’ and would ‘respond to any violations’.
Just 24 hours on from the ‘ceasefire’ declaration, Netanyahu announced: ‘We are staying in Lebanon in a reinforced security zone… we are not leaving.’ The ‘security zone’ threatens a 452km2 land-grab. Though thousands returned to their homes following the ceasefire announcement, entire cities and refugee camps housing hundreds of thousands of people remain emptied of their residents. This ‘yellow line’ extends into the sea, threatening Lebanon’s Qana gas field.
Israeli contempt for the ‘ceasefire’ was made clear as occupation forces continued to systematically destroy Lebanese villages. Military com-manders told Haaretz that ‘civilian homes, public buildings and schools are being demolished as part of a broader policy to “clear the area”’. These tactics are modelled on the genocidal destruction of Gaza, with heavy machinery used to destroy civilian infrastructure south of the Litani. In response, the Lebanese Hezbollah-aligned MP Hassan Fadlallah declared, ‘We will bring down this yellow line through resistance… all these lines will be broken, and we will not accept any of them.’
Hezbollah strikes back
On 10 May, Hezbollah used guided missiles, artillery and explosive drones to target Israeli forces in the Lebanese south. Among the targets hit were tanks, convoys of armed vehicles and military bulldozers. For the first time Hezbollah has deployed cheap, locally-produced first-person view camera-mounted explosive drones, with lethal effect. An Israeli officer told Haaretz that Hezbollah is acting with renewed boldness: ‘We arrived here and found a military system operating at full capacity; observation points, assault cells, explosive devices and anti-tank missiles. The enemy has reorganised itself differently.’ IDF reserve general Itzhak Brik was even more frank, admitting that ‘We have not achieved any objective, and our situation is worse than it was at the start of the war.’
Imperialists back Vichy regime
On 22 April, Zionist foreign minister Gideon Saar called on the comprador Lebanese government to ‘work together against the terror state that Hezbollah has built in your territory’. The US is pushing for total normalisation between its Israeli ally and the compliant Lebanese ruling class. US imperialism is anxious to challenge European interests in the region. European companies currently represent over half of foreign corporations operating in Lebanon. Seeking to challenge this position, US envoy Tom Barrack is promoting a postwar ‘economic zone’ in southern Lebanon that he stated would benefit ‘all of us – the Gulf, the US, the Lebanese’.
On 27 April, Lebanese president Joseph Aoun again attacked Hezbollah as the ‘treason’ of ‘those who take their country to war to achieve foreign interests.’ This section of the Lebanese bourgeoisie repeats the imperialist narrative that Iran is ‘occupying’ the country through Hezbollah.
There exists a situation of dual power in Lebanon, between the pro-imperialist elite and the organised, armed movement to defend Lebanese sovereignty. In April, huge pro-resistance demonstrations forced the postponement of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s US trip. Condemning his government as a ‘Vichy regime’ (referencing France’s Nazi occupation during the Second World War), crowds attacked Salam and chanted against negotiations.
Involving Palestinian liberation factions and Lebanese communists, the resistance continues to fight back. The last act of 80-year-old PFLP veteran Maha Abu Khalil, killed in Israeli airstrikes as she refused to leave her Sour apartment on 20 April, was to send her comrades a quote attributed to Che Guevara:
‘Everything is bought and sold with the same currency, except the homeland; it is sold with betrayal and bought with blood.’
Louis Brehony
