CNN reports Thursday in “Israeli strikes pound Gaza and Lebanon” that: “A series of Israeli airstrikes were the ‘most violent’ to hit Beirut’s southern suburbs since the war began, destroying six buildings and causing widespread fires, according to Lebanon’s state news agency.”
HANADY SALMAN,hanady.salman@assafir.com
Salman is a journalist based in Beirut. She contributed to the book Inside Lebanon with Noam Chomsky and others, based on Chomsky’s visit to Lebanon just before the 2006 invasion by Israel. The film “Letters from Beirut: the War of 33” is based on her writings. See her writings in Jadaliyya.
She said today: “The scale of destruction caused by Israeli bombing of several Lebanese regions amounts to what can be caused by the deadliest earthquake, except it is caused by humans, and it continues.
“Tony Nemer, geology professor at American University of Beirut and earthquake expert, announced some villages and towns are completely destroyed, and some regions and buildings are regularly bombarded by Israelis war planes, which will eventually lead to their total destruction.
“One million two hundred thousand Lebanese people are displaced with the cold season approaching. A report issued Tuesday by the official Agency of Disaster Management, stated Lebanon has been hit by 11,000 Israeli air raids since October 2023.
“A conference held in Paris today, by the initiative of the French president, pledged one $1 billion in aid for the war torn country. Paris, seeking to regain a role in Lebanon, has been moving in a direction that seems contrary to that of the U.S. and Israel.
“Israel and the U.S. are trying to twist UN resolution 1701 in order to guarantee that the resistance fighters will stay as far as possible from the border, and have them replaced by the (too weak) Lebanese army and/or multinational forces, an option that Hezbollah will never accept.
“Meanwhile, Israeli forces are still unable to enter the country by land, suffering daily losses in soldiers.”
See by Elijah J. Magnier: “Netanyahu’s Defiance of UNSCR 1701 and Israel’s Strategy for Hezbollah’s Destruction.”