Lebanon was once again proven to be unable to control its own territory against an Iranian militia attacking Israel. Taking this land is the only way that Israel could:

1. Assure there will not be forces 2. Acquire a bargaining chip ahead of a future peace agreement with Lebanon 3. Signal to the Iranian axis and the rest of the Middle East that it has won this war, which is important deterrence.

Land is much more significant than life or property in the Middle Eastern culture. You could kill all of Hezbollah but one and they would emerge at the end of the conflict and claim victory, but you can't really spin reality to claim a victory when you lost land.

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ImPostingOnHN 5 hours ago | parent [-]

> 1. Assure there will not be forces

It's not israel's place as the aggressor to "assure" anything. Lebanon (and Palestine) have *at least* as much right to be safe from israel as israel has to be safe from them.

"Assuring" as used by you here should be taken in the same context as a controlling abuser "assuring" their spouse never disobeys them, or afrikaaners "assuring" that South Africans of other races have no power.

> 2. Acquire a bargaining chip ahead of a future peace agreement with Lebanon

Yes, this is territorial expansion as mentioned above.

> 3. Signal to the Iranian axis and the rest of the Middle East that it has won this war

Why would israel signal that Iran has won this war? Seems like they'd want to avoid attention on that.

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citrin_ru 3 hours ago | parent [-]

We may disagree about methods Israel uses to protect its citizens but it's cleary that Hezballah is an attacker and Isreal is defending. Without attacks from Hezballah and other Iranian backed groups Isreal would not have attacked targets in Lebanon. Even the most recent escalation started with Hezballah attacking Israel, not other way around.

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Thlom 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Do you not read the news? Israel was bombing Lebanon DAILY and occupying parts of southern Lebanon throughout the so called ceasefire. All without Hezbollah firing a single shot in retalliation until Israel and the US attacked Iran DURING NEGOTIATIONS!

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ra an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If it wasn't for Israel's dogged expansionism, Hezballah would never have been created, Hamas would never have been created and Palestine would still be a liberal democracy.

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riffraff an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Without attacks from Hezballah and other Iranian backed groups Isreal would not have attacked targets in Lebanon

Israel also bombed southern Syria, to "protect the druze community". Syria has not attacked Israel, there are some random terrorist groups who did, but they attacked Israels' occupying forces in Syria.

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PowerElectronix 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think that expelling all shia muslims from the recently conquered territory is a bit more than defending oneself.

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RobertoG 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Man, Hezbollah was, literally, created as an answer to Israel attacks.

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ImPostingOnHN 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's clear that israel is an attacker here, and Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon are defending. Without attacks from israel and other israel backed groups, iran would not have attacked targets in israel. Even the most recent escalation started with israel (and the USA) attacking Iran a few weeks ago, not the other way around.

Your take seems to hinge on holding an unfounded bayesian prior that israel is "the good guy" and therefore everything they do must be "defending". The world does not share this unfounded bayesian prior of yours, and thus remains unconvinced of the resulting conclusions drawn by israel and yourself. You will have to do a better job of convincing others, rather than simply asserting your opinions at them.

	▲	spwa4 an hour ago \| parent [-]
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