The war that the Iran-backed terrorists Hezbollah launched against Israel on Oct. 8, 2023 from Lebanon, to support the war that Iran-backed terrorists Hamas launched against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 from Gaza, has ended with Hezbollah defeated and withdrawing from the Israeli border.
It is a victory over terror and over Iran and a victory for peace in the Mideast that President Biden has been working on and that President Trump will continue.
One of Trump’s greatest achievements in his first term, the Abraham Accords peace deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, was rightly praised by Biden, who was pushing to add the most powerful of the Arab states, Saudi Arabia, to the circle of peace.
It was Jerusalem and Riyadh moving closer together that Iran and Hamas sought to disrupt with the Oct. 7 onslaught on Israel, murdering, raping and kidnapping Israelis, with 1,200 killed, not in combat, but butchered in their beds or at a musical festival, and 251 hostages dragged into Gaza.
As Biden said yesterday, the goal remains “the full normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel — a desire they both have.” Whether that comes before or after Jan. 20, it will come, and on this there is no daylight between Biden and Trump.
The Hezbollah missile and rocket fusillade that began on Oct. 8 was actually a continuation of a war that Hezbollah began on July 12, 2006, invading Israeli territory and killing and capturing IDF soldiers. Israel struck back and the fighting raged until Aug. 11, when the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1701, which has the force of international law.
1701 required both sides to withdraw from the field of battle in Southern Lebanon, Israel moving south of the international border and Hezbollah moving north to the Litani River, about 18 miles from the Israeli boundary line. Israel withdrew. Hezbollah never did. Instead they built up their underground infrastructure right alongside the Israel border, stockpiling weapons and supplies for a resumption of their attack. They struck on Oct. 8.
Israel didn’t respond with great strength until three months ago, despite having 70,000 Israelis in the country’s north displaced from their homes due to the constant Hezbollah barrage since last fall. But the response did come, as Israel picked off Hezbollah warlord Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.
To “decimate” historically meant to kill 1 in 10. Israel whacked more like 9 of 10 of Hezbollah’s upper echelon and thousands of their fighters, including booby-trapping their pagers and their walkie-talkies. Iran was similarly humiliated, when Israeli air raids knocked out just about all of Iran’s air defense systems.
The U.S. and France helped cement the ceasefire agreed to by Israel and Hezbollah/Iran. The 70,000 Israelis can return home, as can the 300,000 Lebanese who were displaced by the fighting. As Biden said in the Rose Garden yesterday, “If Hezbollah or anyone else breaks the deal and poses a direct threat to Israel, then Israel retains the right to self-defense consistent with international law.”
Biden will use his remaining time in office to advance the Saudi peace with Israel and then hand off the baton to Trump on Jan. 20.
