PV staff
As Israel continues its genocidal war against Gaza, it has steadily expanded its aggression to include the West Bank and now Lebanon. This escalation has occurred under the cover, and with the support of Western governments, especially the US.
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon include targeting thousands of pagers and other wireless devices on September 17 and 18. At least 32 people were killed and 3,000 injured after these devices exploded on people’s person, in their homes, and in workplaces or other institutions.
In an open letter on September 20, the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) plainly calls this “a described terrorist attack that targeted users of communication devices, including civilians, resistance fighters and workers in health and social institutions, after these devices were booby-trapped with explosives by Mossad agents before being imported into Lebanon.”
The LCP warns that Israel’s attacks are designed to intimidate the Lebanese people and prevent Lebanese national forces from supporting the Palestinian people. “They also seek to tighten security control over the entire region, cement the influence of imperialist powers over oil resources and trade routes, and maintain Israel’s qualitative military and security superiority, as Israel serves a crucial role in this broader project,” said the Party.
The Tudeh Party of Iran (TPI) said that Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have “opened a new front in the ‘technological wars’ … which could have dangerous consequences for the entire region.”
Israel has followed up its technological attacks with extensive air strikes on Lebanon, in what many see as preparation for a ground assault. The air strikes have so far killed hundreds of people and injured thousands.
The TPI and other progressive movements in the region have long warned that Israel is trying to expand its attacks on Gaza into a war throughout the Middle East, particularly targeting Lebanon and Iran. They warn that such an expansion serves the longer-term imperialist interests in the region.
The Kuwaiti Progressive Movement (KPM) condemned the “silence and blatant complicity” of the US and its imperialist allies, as well as reactionary Arab states. “While we condemn the heinous aggression and denounce the complicity of the so-called ‘international community’ and the ‘official Arab regimes,’ we reiterate our support for the right of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, and the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements, to confront the aggression and respond to it.”
Iraqi Communist Party leader Raid Fahmi called Israel’s attack on Lebanon a dangerous escalation which “would not have happened without the absolute support for Netanyahu’s fascist government by the United States and its allies, enabling it to get away with impunity, and the absence of solidarity and pressing measures from the Arab countries, despite the crimes of genocide and war crimes committed by the Zionist occupation state against the Palestinian people, which are continuing for the twelfth month.”
The LCP is calling for increased international solidarity to oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people and the recent attacks on Lebanon. The Party is encouraging peace and progressive organizations to “raise their voices in their countries, in their statements, movements and especially in political and popular actions in front of Israeli and US embassies, as well as in national and regional parliaments, and various international institutions.”
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