In the early morning hours of Sunday, August 25, more than 100 Israeli warplanes carried out bombing attacks on dozens of sites in Lebanon. Israel declared the strikes were targeted at the Iran-backed group Hezbollah. For their part, the Islamic fundamentalist Hezbollah militia fired a barrage of missiles and drones toward northern Israel. Both Israel and Hezbollah said these latest military operations were finished for now. But Israel’s Netanyahu said “what happened today is not the final word.” And the heavy exchange of bombings and missile attacks brought the world even closer to the edge of a wider regional war breaking out in the Middle East. And that could spark an even bigger global war drawing in the imperialist backers of Israel—the U.S. and NATO—on one side and the imperialist allies of Iran—Russia and China—on the other. And note well: not only are the U.S., Russia and China armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons that, if used, could end human life as we know it on earth—but so is Israel!
This dangerous escalation across the Israel-Lebanon border is taking place as the U.S. has been rushing even more weapons of mass destruction to the Middle East, including an air craft carrier strike group, guided missile submarine, and an additional squadron of jet fighters. All this on top of the massive military forces the U.S. already has in the area, and the billions of dollars in high-powered weaponry that Biden and Harris have already sent—and are continuing to send—to Israel, America’s regional enforcer.
The Biden-Harris administration claims they are stepping up U.S. firepower in the region to prevent Iran from attacking Israel and setting off a wider regional war. But it is in fact Israel that has been taking blatantly provocative actions—assassinating a top leader of Hezbollah in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, and a top leader of Hamas while he was visiting Tehran, the capital of Iran. The U.S. response? Far from “preserving peace,” Biden-Harris has been surging American military power to the region to intimidate Iran and making clear the U.S. would act if Israel came under serious attack. And all this on top of the grinding and horrifying genocide that Israel carries out—and the U.S. backs—against the Palestinian people day, after day, after day.
As we post this, it is not clear what this latest military exchange between Israel and Hezbollah will lead to. But two things are clear:
One: These developments underscore the real and urgent danger of a larger, more devastating war breaking out—a war that could spread across the region and that could escalate uncontrollably, including possibly to nuclear war.
Two: As we said previously, “If any kind of larger war breaks out, the U.S.—and in particular Genocide Joe Biden and Cold-Blooded Kamala Harris—bears direct responsibility. They can talk ceasefire all they want, and Harris in particular can shed her phony crocodile tears for the Palestinian people, but they have backed Israel up throughout this whole genocidal onslaught. Their actions speak louder than words. And the Republi-fascists are right there with them, with Trump urging Israel to 'get the job done' and the Congress—both Republi-fascist and Democrat—inviting the bloody-jawed Netan-Nazi to bellow a speech to the Congress.”
