Mass Evacuations in Beirut as Israel Announces Plans to Attack Lebanese Capital
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a joint statement this morning ordering the IDF to strike Dahieh, the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut. Several hundred thousand people live in Dahieh, with videos showing an enormous evacuation of the population, it’s impossible to say how many people remain in the suburbs at this time.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was announced on 16 April. That ceasefire has been entirely ripped up by Israel, who has launched a new ground invasion, engaged in an ethnic cleansing campaign across the south of Lebanon, and now announced plans to begin strikes in the capital city. By late May, the Israeli regime had declared roughly 14% of Lebanese territory a combat zone. With a death toll now above 3,000, and climbing, alongside the fact that 11 children are being killed per day, it is clear that the ceasefire is now firmly in the rearview mirror. For Lebanon, it never existed in the first place.
The order arrives as the U.S. regime is itself busy breaking ceasefire with Iran, with fresh attacks over night. Washington attacked Iran a number of times last week despite ongoing peace talks in Pakistan. That same USA gave the green light for Israel to attack today, on Friday Marco Rubio called Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to tell him, in the State Department’s own readout, that Hezbollah is “entirely responsible” for the fighting. No mention of the ceasefire. No mention of the strikes. Yesterday Israel had petitioned for permission to strike the Lebanese capital, with today’s order, it is clear that permission was granted.
Smotrich said in March that Dahieh would become Khan Younis. If the world doesn’t act, and the media sphere doesn’t immediately default to international law as a baseline, rather than pro-Israel biases, his threat will become reality.