Tuesday, January 09, 2024

Lebanon Hosts Terrorists, Points Massive Arsenal at Israel, Then Complains When Israel Defends Itself

by Bassam Tawil
  • Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah revealed in a speech that his terror militia had conducted around 670 armed attacks against Israel since October 8.
  • Instead of blaming Hamas and Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into another war, the Lebanese government is rushing to accuse Israel of killing a Hamas fugitive and violating Lebanese airspace to attack Syria.
  • Instead of criticizing Israel for defending its citizens against the Hezbollah and Hamas attacks, the Lebanese government should enforce Security Council Resolution 1701, according to which Hezbollah was supposed to withdraw all its terrorists north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon.
  • Lebanon has been in flagrant violation of Resolution 1701 since 2006, of course with no consequences. Similarly, the UN has never enforced its own Article 2(4) under which member states are not permitted to threaten each other. The UN, it would seem, is actually an instigator and conservator of war.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken should be addressing Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations about their accountability, concessions and compromises; not Israel.
  • It is high time for the UN and all its agencies, including the Security Council, to toss out anti-Israel complaints, including the latest one from Lebanon. Failing to do so will just once again expose the double standards -- really, no standards -- of the UN and once again throw the Middle East and the US into further violence and bloodshed.

Instead of blaming Hamas and Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon into another war, the Lebanese government is rushing to accuse Israel of killing a Hamas fugitive and violating Lebanese airspace to attack Syria. Pictured: A banner glorifying Hezbollah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah hangs on the building where a drone attack killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo by Anwar Amro/AFP via Getty Images)

In the past few decades, Lebanon has allowed the Hezbollah terror militia and several Palestinian terror groups, including Hamas, to use its territory to plan and launch attacks against Israel. Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – the three major officially-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations operating in Lebanon – are all armed and funded by Iran.

The Lebanese government and army have done nothing to stop these terrorist organizations from establishing military bases, placing an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles -- some precision-guided, in addition to "new weapons" -- along its 75-mile southern border, and turning Lebanon into a launching pad for attacking Israel, a country smaller than New Jersey (Israel: 22,145 sq.km, 8,630 sq.mi; New Jersey: 22,590 sq.km, 8,722 sq.mi). Many of the leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are currently based in areas controlled by Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital of Beirut and other parts of the country.

Continue Reading Article

No comments: