Following the eruption of the current US-Iran War, leading to the ignition of other regional conflicts, the reactivation of the dormant war of the Zionist entity on Hezbollah (and by extension, Lebanon) is inevitable after 15 months of unretaliated Zionist breaches of the Hezbollah-Israeli ceasefire. According to UNIFIL, these breaches reach over 10,000 documented breaches. Hezbollah broke the silence by launching 6 rockets at the Northern Occupied Territories on March 1st, shortly after the confirmation of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death as reported by Al Jazeera, leaving Lebanese society scrambling over an obvious debate. Is Hezbollah serving Iran’s agenda, or is it reclaiming the dignity of the Lebanese people, especially those from the South, unable to return to their homes?
Lebanese society has failed to recognize that it has still been under attack by the Zionist entity, “protected” by a dysfunctional ceasefire, with 5 Zionist posts still established in South Lebanon. Lebanese society must become accustomed to the Zionist regime’s ways after witnessing the horrors of Gaza.
FIRST PARALLEL: DROPPING PAMPHLETS ON BEIRUT
The Israeli army relies on the same tactics in both Gaza and Lebanon to shift moral responsibility on to the population. This, in turn, makes victims of these attacks feel complicit in their own destruction if they don’t comply with the enemy.
On March 13, the Zionist entity dropped pamphlets in an attempt to push the Lebanese people to share information regarding Hezbollah, using instigating phrases such as “Lebanon is your decision” and “Your land is yours, don’t let it become ‘free money’ for Iranian Hezbollah’s weapons.” This is not the first time the entity uses this tactic, as they’ve previously dropped airstrike warnings via pamphlets to the people of Gaza, dragging them away from their homes.
The reverse side of the pamphlet reads: “In light of the great success in Gaza, the new fact sheet arrives in Lebanon” - this warning should be enough to wake the Lebanese people up to the cruelty of the enemy. This insinuates a population out there desensitized towards the destruction in Gaza, willing to negotiate with the very people threatening to impose this destruction among them.
If the genocide in Gaza is not enough, recall bombers in World War II dropping leaflets on a city under threat of bombing, such as the Hiroshima pamphlets dropped by the United States, forcing evacuation of the cities. The Atomic Heritage Foundation has such pamphlets well documented, and the parallels between such tragic events can no longer be denied.
SECOND PARALLEL: COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT UNDER THE PRETEXT OF TARGETING MILITIA
In both Lebanon and Gaza, Israeli forces attempt to frame a narrative in which entire civilian populations are labelled as military bases for Hezbollah and Hamas respectively. In turn, they justify the use of force that would be labelled as illegal under international law.
The Dahyieh/Dahya doctrine is a well known Zionist strategy allegedly aiming to target Hezbollah actors in Lebanon - it “calls for the use of massive, disproportionate force and the deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
According to Gadi Eisenkot, the head of the army’s northern division in 2008, “We will apply disproportionate force on it (village) and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases.”
It has become a habit of the Zionist enemy to issue evacuation notices when striking Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, as well as the southern suburbs, Dahye. Recently, these evacuation notices have spanned whole municipalities that are some of the most densely populated regions in the country. Citizens of South Lebanon who had previously been pushed above the Litani river are now forced above Zahrani river, with Zionist forces threatening to strike over 14% of Lebanese land with no warning, rendering residents homeless. This is a blatant act of collective punishment, or more suitably, an attack on the Lebanese population under the cover of waiting to “clear the region of Hezbollah.” On Thursday, April 8, hours after the ceasefire between the United States and Iran was announced, over 100 strikes were carried out across various Lebanese regions. The attacks were carried out under the pretext of targeting Hezbollah command centers, resulting in the death of over 250 civilians and injuring hundreds.
Parallels can easily be drawn to the genocide in Gaza under the title of “erasing all evil/Hamas” from Palestinian territory, resulting in collective punishment and the deaths of thousands of Palestinians according to ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. Total blockage of Gaza prohibiting the entrance of necessary food and potable water punishes and starves the entire population of the strip, another blatant breach of international humanitarian law.
THIRD PARALLEL: TARGETING OF CIVILIAN TRUCKS AND AMBULANCES
The enemy uses the same reframing tactics to label any ambulance and civilian truck as a threat, legitimizing any attacks that may lead to civilian casualties.
The Zionist entity recently released a statement in advance, warning Lebanese citizens about incoming attacks on civilian vehicles and trucks. This warning was not only directed at any suspicious vehicle, but also at ambulances. Youssef Assaf is a victim of a Zionist airstrike on a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance, one of at least 38 killed since the beginning of this war. “The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) includes the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against medical units and transport (arts. 8(2)(b)(xxiv), 8(2)(e)(ii)) for both international and non-international armed conflicts,” as cited in Articles of War.
This is the same tactic and war crime that was administered in Gaza during the genocide. The well-known story of Hind Rajab embodies what the Zionist entity had been doing in Gaza for months: shelling ambulances under the excuse of Hamas agents using them as hideouts, and patients as human shields.
FOURTH PARALLEL: USE OF WHITE PHOSPHORUS
White phosphorus is not used as a military necessity by the Israeli army, but as a tool to inflict maximum civilian harm across both Lebanon and Gaza.
White phosphorus over Gaza city
According to Human Rights Watch, “the use of white phosphorus in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, magnifies the risk to civilians and violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk.” White phosphorus was used over the course of several days in Gaza. Severe chemical burns, respiratory damage, heart failure, reignition of wounds, and many more are just some of the side effects of white phosphorus when exposed to human beings. Right at the beginning of the Zionist enemy’s most recent offensive on Lebanon, white phosphorus was deployed in the Southern town of Yohmor on March 3rd. This is a direct breach of international law, another pattern between Gaza and Lebanon.
South Lebanon over Yohmor
The attacks of the Zionist entity on Lebanon under the pretext of destroying Hezbollah prepares the ground for possibly a new genocide in South Lebanon and its complete eradication. Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan expressed his concern in a news conference: “We are frankly concerned Netanyahu is moving toward a new genocide under the pretext of fighting Hezbollah.” It is saddening how Lebanese social media is flooding with mixed posts attacking Hezbollah and pointing fingers at the Shiites who believe the resistance gives a voice to those muted by their own government, and arms men who cannot be protected by their own army. Such a Zionist pretext has to be dismantled, as the Zionist entity is starting to deploy its genocidal tactics on Lebanese land. The world stood idly while Gaza was wiped to the ground. It is up to the resistance and the Lebanese people to fight against it - otherwise, the people are satisfied with conforming to imperialist and Zionist agendas.