The Patriot Post® · Wars and Rumors of Wars
Israel has had enough of Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist proxy that has been shooting rockets at its “infidel” enemies for months. Israel has emptied its northern territory of civilians to protect them from the continuous assault. The Wall Street Journal reports that since October 8 (the day after Hamas started the conflict via a massacre of innocent civilians in southern Israel), Hezbollah has attacked Israel with “more than 8,800 rockets, missiles and drones.”
Unfortunately, as good as Israel’s Iron Dome defense system is at keeping the barrage relatively harmless, some projectiles inevitably slip by. In July, several Israeli children were killed when a Hezbollah rocket exploded on a soccer field. So, with Hamas finally being brought to its knees, its ideological cousin is next on the hit list — as it should be.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned these terror groups that if they don’t stop, Israel will take action to make them stop. “While Israel has exercised remarkable restraint over the past 11 months,” Katz said, “we will not tolerate the ongoing war of attrition that Hezbollah and its patron, Iran, are attempting to impose on the people of Israel.”
Hezbollah, based in southern Lebanon, is more dangerous than Hamas and much better armed. Like Hamas, Hezbollah has embedded itself into Lebanese society, including the country’s parliament, and pays people to house weaponry. According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Hezbollah has been doing this for 20 years.
The IDF explains how Hezbollah has turned homes into missile and rocket launch pads for the terrorist group. pic.twitter.com/eM4DsP6Kh6
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) September 23, 2024
And also, like Hamas, Hezbollah has made sure that if Israel goes after its weapons trove, civilians are guaranteed to be killed. Neither group values human life, but both groups are happy to exploit the Westerners who do.
Israel has begun a systematic attack to take out this existential threat. Last week, Mossad, the Jewish state’s intelligence agency, blew up Hezbollah’s pagers and walkie-talkies. This week, Israel is wiping out all the infrastructure that Hezbollah built. But just as it does with all its countermeasures, Israel has reached out to the civilian population in the region and told them to get out, particularly if they are housing Hezbollah military equipment. What other country does that?
Sadly, all the mainstream media can talk about is how mean old Israel killed “almost 500 people,” per the Journal, “including dozens of women and children, and wounded more than 1,600, according to Lebanese authorities, in the deadliest wave of strikes since the current hostilities began in October.”
Aside from the fact that these are dubious casualty numbers, what is Israel supposed to do? Let Hezbollah continue to send rockets and missiles into the country? The Israelis did that for months. Guess what? Weakness breeds aggression, and that weakness was mostly due to pressure from the U.S. government, which has fanned the flames of this conflict. Israel is not waiting around anymore for a diplomatic solution. You cannot negotiate with terrorists.
Israel has hit 1,300 targets. In response, the United States — which already has 40,000 troops in the region — has decided to dispatch more troops. Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder told reporters, “In light of increased tension in the Middle East and out of an abundance of caution, we are sending a small number of additional U.S. military personnel forward to augment our forces that are already in the region.” (Sidebar: Remember in the presidential debate when Kamala Harris told the lie that there were no troops deployed in combat zones?)
Considering the history of how badly the Biden administration has handled this conflict, it causes one to wonder: Are Joe Biden and Harris sending more troops to be a good ally or to bully Israel into less decisive action? If the former, great. It’d be a first in this conflict. If the latter, shame on this administration. Israel is doing the dirty work of fighting a major terrorist threat in the region courtesy of Iran, and the least the U.S. can do is get out of the way.