"Senior US officials reassured a delegation of top Israeli officials visiting Washington this week that if a full-out war were to break out on Israel's northern border between Israel and Hezbollah, the Biden administration is fully prepared to back its ally, according to a senior administration official."
US offers assurances to Israel this week in the event of full-blown war with
Hezbollah
By MJ Lee, CNN Published 7:35 PM EDT, Fri June 21, 2024
Here is why real US support for Israel means signing off, publicly, and in
advance, on the civilian Lebanese losses required to destroy Hezbollah
missiles:
#1. The Hezbollah missiles, if and when launched, will cause catastrophic damage to Israel both in life and limb and in the destruction of critical life supporting infrastructure.
#2. The Hezbollah missiles are shieled by high profile civilian structures - hospitals, schools, orphanage, mosques and more.
#3. Even if Israel were to somehow send tens of thousands of crack special units to destroy the missiles in an operation on the ground, the destruction of the war heads could cause thousands of Lebanese civilian losses.
#4. Even if Israel possessed a Star Trek Star Ship, it would take an Israeli Scotty so much time to beam up each of Hezbollah's missiles that Hezbollah would end up launching most of them once they realized what was happening.
So, Mr. Biden and your team, there isn't even a fantasy work around to destroy the Hezbollah missiles without causing a lot of civilian Lebanese casualties.
So here are the options:
#1. The "For The Record Conditional Support Option": Support Israel on condition that there aren't "too many" Lebanese civilian losses, thus being on record as supporting Israel without actually supporting the Jewish State. We are down that road right now and it is lengthening the timeline of war in Gaza.
#2. The "Golda Option": Tell Israel that the US will only support taking out the Hezbollah missiles after Hezbollah launches a devastating first strike against the Jewish State. We have been down that road too, and we lost 2600 IDF soldiers in 18 days.
#3. The "Lifesaving Option": Openly state now that the United States of America recognizes the painful truth that unless Hezbollah immediately pulls the missiles out of civilian areas that Israel has the right to take out the missiles even at the cost of a large number of Lebanese civilian casualties.
This is a lifesaving option because many Lebanese civilians would, after the American announcement, successfully run for their lives.
Choosing life for the region requires being bold enough to cope with reality.
And those Hezbollah missiles shieled by high profile civilian structures - hospitals, schools, orphanage, mosques and more - are very real.
Dr. Aaron Lerner heads IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis, since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations.
Website: www.imra.org.il