When Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers left southern Lebanon in 2000, they were ridiculed by locals as occupiers. Now, on the eve of a ground war against Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, Israeli soldiers may be seen as liberators.
Over the past week, the IDF has attacked Hezbollah positions and removed rocket launchers and weapons stockpiles. It also launched targeted attacks against Hezbollah leaders.
And, of course, last week there were mysterious pager attacks that killed dozens of Hezbollah personnel, injured thousands more, and disrupted the terrorists' ability to communicate with each other.
There may not be as many opportunities to attack as there are now.
And Israel would be well within its rights to do so.
Since October 8, Hezbollah has sent missiles, rockets and explosive drones into Israel, killing 49 people and displacing 63,500 people along the border.
The attack was carried out in solidarity with Hamas terrorists who had killed 1,200 Israelis the day before, and was unjust.
As Israel has pointed out, Israel has no territorial disputes with Lebanon. Hezbollah only wants to destroy Hezbollah on behalf of Iran.
Hezbollah fired a missile into Tel Aviv on Wednesday, reminding the world of its intentions. The missile was intercepted by the David Sling system, but had it continued on its trajectory many people could have been killed.
The Iranian-backed terrorists who fired the missiles may have thought they were showing off their strength. But if anything, this missile united Israelis and made it clear that they were not alone in their border towns. Tel Aviv is also at war.
With this missile, Hezbollah undoubtedly sealed its fate.
Officially, Israel's war goal is to push Hezbollah back to the Litani River, several kilometers north of the border, in accordance with 2006 UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
The area is a “safe zone” established by Israel near the border after the 1982 First Lebanon War, when Israel invaded to prevent Palestinian guerrillas from crossing the border and shelling Israeli communities. corresponds to
After years of suppressing the rebellion, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 after it became clear that Syria would not negotiate a withdrawal. Hezbollah tried to give the impression that Israeli forces were retreating by firing on them as they retreated.
This withdrawal under fire probably emboldened the second Palestinian intifada Later that year, bloody terrorist attacks killed more than 1,000 Israelis and many more Palestinians and suspended Israeli-Palestinian talks.
In 2006, Israel was stunned when Hezbollah again launched bold cross-border raids in solidarity with Hamas, abducting and killing Israeli soldiers.
Almost in desperation, Israel bombed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Ground forces were ill-equipped for the ensuing battle. Amid international condemnation of civilian casualties and pressure from the George W. Bush administration, Israel was forced to accept Resolution 1701 and a ceasefire.
Since then, the Syrian regime that once ruled Lebanon has collapsed and is now effectively supported by Iran and Russia.
The Iranian regime has reportedly invested billions of dollars in arming and training Hezbollah and helped it build a far more sophisticated network of tunnels in the Gaza Strip than Hamas's, with help from North Korea. Hezbollah also took control of Shia and Christian villages in southern Lebanon and came to dominate Lebanese politics.
Although Hezbollah was admired throughout the Arab and Islamic world as the only military force to force Israel's withdrawal, it soon became hated not only by the local population, especially in southern Lebanon, but also by the country as a whole.
Hezbollah kidnapped innocent civilians and held them for ransom. Forced civilians to store weapons in their homes. And like Hamas, it diverted resources from its fragile economy to stockpile weapons and build tunnels.
Unlike in Gaza, the local population is not Palestinian and does not ruthlessly oppose Israel. Indeed, after the withdrawal in 2000, thousands of locals fled to Israel and live freely in the Jewish state. Many people want to return to their hometowns.
There might be a chance now. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says we have diplomatic options, but diplomacy has failed. Even if Hezbollah were to agree to leave the border, as it is already legally required to do, it would be considered a defeat and lead to a rapid collapse of the terrorist organization's grip on the Lebanese state. Therefore, Israel must fight. And doing so would provoke a stronger reaction from Israel. You will lose.
The IDF has been preparing for this conflict for nearly two decades. They have better information about Hezbollah than Hamas. It has better and more accurate weapons. And the Israeli public is divided on everything else and supports the war.
Unlike Gaza, the goal is not to destroy Hezbollah as a terrorist organization or even as a political group. Rather, as the Israeli government has repeatedly stated, Israel's goal is simply to allow northerners to live in peace. That means pushing Hezbollah back across the Litani River. The Litani River is the first geographically defensible boundary north of the current border. It will be a tough battle, but it is also a winnable battle.
The long-term goal must be to end Iran's support for Hezbollah and other terrorist proxies that are responsible for the continued turmoil in the region. Many Arab countries already have peace agreements with Israel or have indicated their intention to do so.
Peace will begin to flourish again because Iran will be unable to fund or arm terrorist networks abroad. But that will have to wait for a future US administration that is willing to isolate the Iranian regime rather than try to make deals with it.
Talk of a ceasefire promoted by France and the Biden administration is ridiculously premature. pathetic sentence The proposal doesn't even mention Hezbollah. The world should tell Hezbollah to comply with Resolution 1701 or be destroyed. We should impose sanctions on Iran. Rather, Israel is fighting alone. But it's not just about fighting for yourself.
If Israel wins, it can liberate Lebanon. We must fight carefully and sow the seeds of future friendship.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
