On September 17th, Israel began an unprecedented escalation in Lebanon. First, it carried out a remote pager attack that blew up vast numbers of communications devices, killing and maiming thousands; then, it launched airstrikes that killed 558 people on September 23rd alone in what became the deadliest single day for Lebanon since the end of the country’s civil war in 1990. And four days later, Israeli warplanes dropped over 80 US-made, 2,000-pound bombs on six high-rise apartment buildings in Beirut, leveling the residences; killing at least 300; and assassinating Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
These events have commenced the deadliest period since Israel started its nearly year-long bombardment of Lebanon on October 8th, 2023, after Hezbollah began launching rockets at Israeli military positions in the occupied Shebaa Farms in a bid to open up a new war front with Israel in order to reduce pressure on its ally in Gaza. Even after its assassination of Nasrallah, Israel has continued crossing new thresholds: Israeli bombings have struck everywhere from the center of Beirut to the northern city of Tripoli, and on October 1st, thousands of Israeli soldiers began a ground invasion of Lebanon. The Israeli military has instructed residents of over 100 villages and city neighborhoods to flee their homes, placing 25% of Lebanese territory under displacement orders and uprooting at least one-quarter of the country’s population……more
