On November 27, a ceasefire in the yearlong war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization, brokered by the U.S. and France, took effect.
The ceasefire calls on Israel and Hezbollah to halt their attacks. Israel’s military, which invaded southern Lebanon, is to withdraw over the next 60 days. Hezbollah, whose forces have long dominated and operated in southern Lebanon, would move some 18 miles north, away from Lebanon’s border with Israel. (Israel is not required to move its forces away from its border with Lebanon.) Lebanon’s U.S.-backed army and some UN forces would deploy to the border areas of southern Lebanon with the task of preventing Hezbollah from returning. The U.S. and Israel would oversee the implementation of the agreement, along with France and other countries.
Biden said this agreement “reminds us that peace is possible. Say that again: Peace is possible.”
Peace? Since the ceasefire was declared, Israel has attacked targets in Lebanon over 100 times, and killed at least a dozen people in Lebanon. On November 30, it bombed alleged Hezbollah facilities on the Lebanon-Syrian border and in southern Lebanon. On December 2, Israel bombed sites “throughout Lebanon,” killing at least 10 and wounding three. On December 3, Israel killed more in southern Lebanon.
What gives?
A Ceasefire That Gives Israel the “Right” to Continue Bombing Lebanon
Under this “ceasefire” Israel is allowed to keep attacking Lebanon, because this agreement was written up by the U.S. and Israel to serve their goals and agenda.1
Biden made this clear when he announced the deal. He denounced Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and blamed it for the war, even though it was Israel that radically escalated what had been a low-level conflict into all-out war on September 17 of this year.
He stated that any attempt by Hezbollah to rearm or rebuild its infrastructure, much of which was destroyed by Israel, would be considered a violation of this agreement (which was drafted in consultation with Israel and France): “What is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed—will—I emphasize—will not be allowed to threaten the security of Israel again…. Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon will not be allowed to be rebuilt.”
He made no such demands of Israel and its military structures which are guilty of carrying out war crimes and genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as Lebanon.
Biden went on to say, “Let us—let me be clear: If Hezbollah or anyone else breaks the deal and poses a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self-defense…”2
In other words, if Hezbollah took any steps to stay active, regroup, or rebuild, this would be considered a violation of the agreement and Israel would have the “right” to attack. Again, no such demands are being put on Israel.
The agreement’s second paragraph underscores this. It demands Lebanese groups (like Hezbollah) halt “any operations against Israel.” But it only restricts Israel from taking “offensive” actions. In other words, so long as Israel claims it is acting in self-defense, it can continue to attack targets inside Lebanon and this doesn’t constitute a violation of the agreement!3
And that’s just what Israel has been claiming to justify its ongoing attacks on Lebanon. On November 30, Israel bombed a site on Lebanon’s border with Syria that it claimed was “actively being used” by Hezbollah to transport weapons. Israel said this was a violation of the ceasefire. The same day it attacked three other locations in southern Lebanon because alleged Hezbollah members were either “approaching Hezbollah structures,” or loading weapons into vehicles, or engaging in “terrorist activity” at a Hezbollah facility. Israel claims such attacks are defensive, not offensive actions.4
A Ceasefire Drawn Up to Serve the War Aims and Interests of U.S. Imperialism and Israel
This war began on October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah, a reactionary Islamic fundamentalist organization backed by Iran, started firing rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for Israel launching its genocide in Gaza the day before. Israel had been returning fire, but on September 17 it unleashed all-out war—really a slaughter—against Hezbollah and the people of Lebanon. This was done with U.S. arms, intelligence, and its full backing.
The suffering has been horrific: by November 27, 2024, nearly 4,000 Lebanese had been killed, 16,500 wounded, over a million people were driven from their homes, and Hezbollah had been greatly weakened. (One hundred Israelis were also killed and some 60,000 were forced to leave their homes.)
After Israel had bombed Hezbollah and Lebanon into submission5, the U.S., its imperialist partner France, and Israel drew up this “ceasefire” agreement and basically forced it on Hezbollah and Lebanon’s government.
The writer Ahmed Eldin calls it “a ceasefire only by name,” writing, “A closer read of the agreement proves that it was created to serve as a tool for U.S. and Israeli dominance over a fractured and fragile Lebanon that helps ensure endless impunity for Israel.”
As we wrote at revcom.us last week, this ceasefire does aim to legitimize Israel’s murderous slaughter of civilians, lock in its battlefield gains in Lebanon, and strengthen U.S. imperialism and Israel’s influence in Lebanon. But it’s also designed to help enable Israel to complete its genocide in Gaza, carry forward its violent campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian West Bank, and allow it to focus on its main enemy in the region, Iran.
None of this has anything to do with bringing “peace” or ending the horrors of war in Lebanon or anywhere else in the Middle East.
Why Does the U.S. Act So Deceitfully and So Murderously?
The short answer: the system of capitalism-imperialism.
The U.S. imperialists are actively arming, funding and supporting Israel’s slaughter in Lebanon because they see it as being in the interests of their global empire: they want to take down Hezbollah and its backer Iran, and try to make the U.S. and Israel the dominant players in Lebanon—not Hezbollah.
Why are they willing to slaughter thousands—and lie about it—to strengthen Israel and control Lebanon? Because Israel is their essential attack dog in the Middle East and because controlling Lebanon is part of controlling the whole Middle East. And controlling the Middle East, with its vast fossil fuel reserves, its crucial trade routes, and its military importance—at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and Africa—is crucial to enforcing and maintaining their global capitalist-imperialist system of plunder, exploitation and oppression—even if it risks regional or even global wars to do it.
What does all this tell us?
That the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian is right when he says,
We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. And it is a scientific fact that humanity does not have to live this way—a whole different way to organize society, a whole better world, is possible.
Instead:
WE DECLARE AND DEMAND: The Existing Capitalist-Imperialist System And Institutions Of Government In This Country Must Be Abolished and Dismantled—And Replaced By A New, Socialist System Based On The CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA.