Damage from Israeli airstrikes on southern Beirut, Lebanon, September 28, 2024 (Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty)

EA on Chasing Shadows Podcast: Netanyahu’s “Forever Wars” From Gaza to Lebanon

EA on International Media: The Big Winner From Iran’s Missile Strikes? Netanyahu

I joined Australia’s ABC News on Thursday to analyze the expansion of Israel’s war in Lebanon, with targeted assassinations of Hezbollah leaders, airstrikes, and now a ground invasion into the south of the country.

Watch Discussion from 3:54

Speaking with Yvonne Yong, I begin with the first Israeli casualties in the invasion, eight troops killed and dozens wounded in a firefight in a village near the border.

As much as this might be a symbolic shock to the Israelis, there are far more Lebanese — civilians as well as Hezbollah fighters — who have been killed.

Drawing on history, I survey the risks for Israel getting bogged down in an invasion and possible occupation, even with a damaged Hezbollah after the assassinations of leader Hassan Nasrallah and commanders.

But I return to the greater risks for the Lebanese people, connecting this second front with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “forever war” in Gaza:

Are we in an open-ended Israeli campaign which will level parts of Beirut and other areas? Is this an Israeli attack which has no endgame but is meant to destroy the country as well as Hezbollah?….

Unless Netanyahu can claim the killing of every Hezbollah and Hamas leader, this war will not stop. It will not have an endgame — unless it is Benjamin Netanyahu pushed out of power.

I also discuss the possibility of wider Israel-Iran confrontation after Tehran’s missile strikes on Israeli territory earlier this week, and urge viewers not to forget the ongoing mass killings in Gaza.

Netanyahu and his inner circle have fixed the world’s eyes on Lebanon. So who notices the 51 killed in the last 24 hours? Who notices the 60 who were killed the day before? Who notices the strikes on schools and an orphanage used as shelters?

Because if no one notices, the Israeli attacks don’t make a sound outside Gaza.