By Iqbal Jassat

While the Friday attack is being claimed by Netanyahu to have targeted Hezbollah’s operation center, most mainstream media fail to mention that without American arms and ammunition, its client regime would not be able to reduce residential buildings to dust.

“He led the Resistance, which will not bend but grow as his memory and example seed a new generation. He fought for his people despite the immense personal cost and was hated by his enemies because he defeated them.

“I saw him speak in Beirut in 2013, a most impressive man and a brilliant strategic thinker. His loss is a blow to Lebanon, but he has taught two generations how to succeed him. He is drinking now from the fountain of Kawthar.”

The above recollection by Vijay Prashad of Syed Hassen Nasrallah reminds me of the time my colleagues at MRN and I had to opportunity to meet the revered leader of Hezbollah in Beirut.

It was in 2003 when I had the privilege of being invited by Hezbollah to present a talk on my impressions of the Arab media’s coverage of Palestine at a conference hosted by the group.

The conference which had journalists and media professionals from the region and beyond, was officially opened by the Lebanese President General Emile Lahoud and the keynote address delivered by Nasrallah.

Spread over a number of days, the event culminated with a dinner hosted by Nasrallah, followed up with a visit to the site of the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla, and a trip to South Lebanon and the liberated Khiyam Detention Camp.

Israel’s murderous onslaught of Lebanon which began with its disastrous occupation that lasted for almost two decades, was finally uprooted through the valiant resistance by Hezbollah led by Nasrallah.

Though Israel suffered various defeats at the hands of Hezbollah since then, it is clear that the right-wing racist regime headed by extremist fascists has failed to heed lessons.

The settler colonial regime’s current military assault on Beirut’s densely populated residential neighborhood of Dahiyeh, has resulted in the horrific slaughter of countless civilians.

Since Friday’s massive air strikes using at least 15 X 5000lb buster bombs to assassinate Nasrallah, emergency operations continue battling to rescue people trapped in the rubble of the entire block of eight residential buildings housing several hundred civilian families.

Addressing the media shortly after the horrendous bombings, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, not only failed to distance America from the strikes but shamelessly sought to justify it by repeating the mantra of “Israel’s right to defend itself”.

Without batting an eye, Blinken’s remarks focused entirely on securing the interests of America’s proxy Israel. The language he used as well as the talking points he repeatedly made, come straight out of the Zionist regime’s playbook.

Like his boss Joe Biden, Blinken was unable to provide a rational response to questions about the so-called US/French “Ceasefire” initiative that was presented a week earlier as having been agreed upon by Israel.

Yet Netanyahu shot it down causing huge embarrassment in the State Department, but Blinken remained aloof from Israel’s intransigent rebuttal. It confirms that the colonial entity is not only a renegade but a huge liability to its main ally.

As is well known, Israel’s dependence on American arms and ammunition including full political and diplomatic backing, is the main reason for the impunity whereby the Zionist regime behaves like a distempered dog.

While the Friday attack is being claimed by Netanyahu to have targeted Hezbollah’s operation center, most mainstream media fail to mention that without American arms and ammunition, its client regime would not be able to reduce residential buildings to dust.

Earlier on Thursday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the US would continue to provide military aid to Israel, ignoring the idea of “red lines,” even as he warned that an all-out “conflict between Israel and Hezbollah” would be devastating.

Netanyahu and his criminal gang of warlords are fully aware that by being party to a joint US/French agreement, and subsequently defying it by pressing ahead with devastating bombings that have killed hundreds in Lebanon, will have no consequences in the White House.

As far as the Biden admin and all previous American governments are concerned, “red lines” are applicable to others, not Israel.

BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen described Western impotency in the face of Israel’s war on Lebanon as “powerless”. And on Blinken’s remarks that there was room for negotiations, Bowen said his assertion is “hollow”.

As Netanyahu continues his mayhem in Gaza, the Occupied West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon, I join Prashad and millions of others who are thinking of their friends and comrades resisting Israel’s illegal attacks: “Lebanon will persist. The Resistance will stand. Israel will fall”.

– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com