Israel is escalating its bombardment of Lebanon, leveling numerous buildings, including the offices of Lebanese news station Al Mayadeen. The Israeli military has also attacked the ancient city of Tyre, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, and killed three Lebanese soldiers in a strike in southern Lebanon, all while continuing to defy international calls for a ceasefire. “What we’re seeing is a complete degeneration into a war that has no rules, that respects no international conventions. There’s one side in this war that has complete impunity,” says Lebanese sociologist Rima Majed in Beirut. “Israel is targeting civilians in most cases. … This is just terrorism.”
The only real chance the US had to not get caught up in the quagmire would have been to unload a battalion or three of marines and go Hamas-hunting themselves, keeping an eye on the IDF. Make sure humanitarian aid arrives. Ignore the Israeli government where necessary (after all Gaza isn’t Israel) in favour of re-iterating that you’re Israel’s friend and simply taking some load off their plate, make sure to work with Israeli lefties when it comes to pretty much everything humanitarian on the ground, or in media.
But that would’ve necessitated more wherewithal and understanding of Israel than the US could’ve ever hoped to muster.
The only real chance the US had to not get caught up in the quagmire would have been to unload a battalion or three of marines and go Hamas-hunting themselves, keeping an eye on the IDF. Make sure humanitarian aid arrives. Ignore the Israeli government where necessary (after all Gaza isn’t Israel) in favour of re-iterating that you’re Israel’s friend and simply taking some load off their plate, make sure to work with Israeli lefties when it comes to pretty much everything humanitarian on the ground, or in media.
But that would’ve necessitated more wherewithal and understanding of Israel than the US could’ve ever hoped to muster.