The Israeli military has prepared an invasion plan for Lebanon, as a months-long cross-border clash with Hezbollah shows signs of exploding into a full-fledged war.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded bloody blows since the 1980s, but this latest round of fighting began in the hours after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel. While much of Israel’s attention had turned south to the renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah started shelling northern Israel with rockets and artillery fired from positions in southern Lebanon.
Israeli authorities, wary of the heavy toll from the Oct. 7 attacks, began advising civilians in northern communities to relocate south to safety shortly after these new Hezbollah attacks began.
Israeli forces have struck back across the northern border with artillery fire and some longer-ranged airstrikes. Still, Hezbollah appears undeterred.
While the fighting in Israel’s north is less intense than in the south, Israeli officials have increasingly signaled they’re willing to ramp up the battle with Hezbollah, if it means repelling the threat and allowing Israeli civilians to safely return to their homes.
At a rally earlier this month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said it was time for Israeli’s military to finally “go to war with Hezbollah” and push the security control zone from Galilee into southern Lebanon. As he visited a fire-damaged northern community the following day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Israel is “prepared for very intense action in the north” and would find “one way or another” to restore security.
The Israeli military has now met the call for action with a battle plan. The Israel Defense Forces announced on June 18 that their Northern Command leader, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, met with IDF Operations Directorate leader, Maj. Gen. Oded Basiuk, and the two approved “operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon.”
The Netanyahu government has yet to give the order, but this now-finalized battle plan marks the latest indication they’re ready to send troops across the border. If Israeli forces do cross that line, they will be looking at a full-scale conflict on two fronts, in addition to heightened tensions in the West Bank and sporadic threats from other directions.
While Israel solidified its Lebanon invasion plans, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah touted a video of a drone flyover of the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, as proof that nowhere in Israel will be safe from Hezbollah’s drone and missile attacks. In a televised speech on June 19, Nasrallah said Hezbollah could also strike neighboring Cyprus if a wider war breaks out.
The Biden administration has tried to prevent the Gaza War from becoming the springboard for a much larger regional conflict. Senior Biden adviser Amos Hochstein visited with Lebanese government officials on June 17 to get their help lowering the tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.
—Ryan Morgan
10 COMMANDMENTS ON SHOW IN LOUISIANA SCHOOLS
Louisiana has enacted a law requiring the 10 Commandments to be displayed in public schools. The law took effect on June 18, and requires the displays “in each building it uses and classroom in each school under its jurisdiction.”
Classrooms will have displays measuring at least 11 inches by 14 inches and printed in a “large and easily readable font.” The commandments will also have a 200-word “context statement” explaining their long-standing role in American culture.”
The Republican-backed measure passed the state Senate by a 30–8 margin on May 16. It was signed into law by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry after receiving a final House approval in a 79–16 vote on May 28.
The law is expected to generate counter-suits; a similar law in Kentucky was struck down by the Supreme Court in 1980.
“If the posted copies of the 10 Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey, the Commandments,” the Supreme Court said at the time in its 5–4 decision.
The High Court stated that this outcome was “not a permissible state objective under the Establishment Clause.”
State Rep. Dodie Horton introduced the legislation, and defended her initiative saying ““The 10 Commandments are the basis of all laws in Louisiana, and given all the junk our children are exposed to in classrooms today, it’s imperative that we put the 10 Commandments back in a prominent position.”
“It doesn’t preach a certain religion, but it definitely shows what a moral code that we all should live by is,” she said.
—Stacy Robinson
BOOKMARKS
A judge in Arizona has refused to dismiss a 2022 election interference case. The two defendants are charged with refusing to canvass, or tally, election results, thereby delaying the outcome of the election.
The House has formed a working group to undermine China’s control of important minerals. It will focus on reducing American dependence on rare-earth minerals, often used in tech manufacturing.
Sen. Mitt Romney (I-Utah.) emphasized China’s role in the COVID-19 pandemic during a hearing on June 18. “They should take responsibility for it and should have opened themselves up to complete disclosure,” he said.
The U.S. Senate passed, with near-unanimous consent, a bill increasing the production of nuclear power on June 18. The ADVANCE Act, which passed 88-2, was opposed by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) after being bundled with U.S. Firefighter grant programs.
President Joe Biden may have provoked the ire of China by selling $360 million in weapons to Taiwan. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory, and has vowed to possess it by force, if necessary.