It's all about to get worse,

[RandySF]

Israel is planning to significantly expand its ground operation in Lebanon, aiming to seize the entire area south of the Litani River and dismantle Hezbollah's military infrastructure, Israeli and U.S. officials say.

Why it matters: This could be the largest Israeli ground invasion of its northern neighbor since 2006, dragging Lebanon to the epicenter of the escalating war with Iran.

"We are going to do what we did in Gaza," a senior Israeli official said, referring to the flattening of buildings Israel says Hezbollah uses to store weapons and launch attacks.

The big picture: An operation of this size and scale could lead to a prolonged Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon.


https://www.axios.com/2026/03/14/israel-lebanon-ground-invasion-hezbollah

[Dan]

2. This thought was self-deleted by the author.

[WmChris]

3. Like our own personal felon

He needs a war to stay out of prison.

[ananda]

4. Will they flatten it to the ground like they did Gaza...

and then leave it to Trump and Jared to "rebuild"?

[Intractable]

5. Where does Israel get its weapons?

From google ...

Israel primarily sources its weapons from the United States, which provides roughly 69% of its major conventional arms imports, followed by Germany (about 30%) and Italy. These imports include advanced aircraft, precision-guided munitions, and missile defense systems. While relying on imports, Israel also maintains a robust domestic defense industry.

I think that makes us partially responsible for the destruction in the Middle East.

[Ferrets are Cool]

10. How can we not be MOSTLY responsible?

[1WorldHope]

6. Greater Isreal.

I am very pro Jew. I've never been able to digest the Holocaust fully. How could people be so sick and cruel. And, like every other nation some narcissist becomes leader and takes good people to a place they never dreamed of going. Bibi is the Jewish people's Trump. I hope there are second chances. Mostly for the planet itself and animals, plants and trees. If humans never evolved again, I'd call that a win.

[RandySF]

7. Extremism

[paleotn]

14. As I've thought for years. If anyone should know better, it's Israel.

Yet as the years roll on, they seem bound and determined to inflict the same atrocities they suffered. Inching ever closer. Yes, they have a right to defend themselves but this ain't defending.

[1WorldHope]

16. Maybe humans are bound to repeat mistakes.

Children who grow up being abused, often abuse children themselves. Women marry men just like their fucked up father's and boys are looking for someone just like dear ol' mom. That's pretty general with no numbers to back it up. But maybe more like a belief I seem to have decided was mostly true.

[paleotn]

18. Certainly seems to be.

[Mossfern]

24. Errr...........correction

Netanyahu is the Israeli people's Trump.

And yes, it is very important to make that distinction.

[vapor2]

28. Who is worse? I say the former but a close tie

[1WorldHope]

30. Thank you for your correction. I understand entirely and agree.

[hibbing]

8. Winning hearts and minds?

[SunSeeker]

9. I'm sure Ivanka's husband will fix this right away.

[Tanuki]

23. Tiffany's father-in-law gets to run this one.

"On the American side, the file is being managed by Trump adviser Massad Boulos, who is also the U.S. envoy for Africa.
Boulos, who is Tiffany Trump's father-in-law, has been in contact with Israeli, Lebanese and Arab officials in recent days to facilitate direct talks between Israel and Lebanon."

[SunSeeker]

26. Ah yes, the truck salesman. We're in good hands.

Trump’s Middle East Advisor Pick Is a Small-Time Truck Salesman
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/world/africa/trump-massad-boulos-middle-east.html

[Bettie]

11. Is this a surprise to anyone?

Seriously? The Israeli right wants more territory.

They declared war on Iran and then began bombing Lebanon, because their goal is "Greater Israel", so they want Lebanon.

After that, they'll need to find a pretext to take Jordan or the chunk of Egypt they want.

[AloeVera]

21. Don't forget Syria. Already took a chunk last year.

I've been gobsmacked for 2+ years that people didn't SEE Gaza was just the start. The blueprint.

And everything else was just deceit.

[Bettie]

32. And they will take more

from various countries. All of Jordan is included and though Jordan is an US ally, who fucking knows what the current administration would do or say should Netanyahu set his sights on them. (ETA: It isn't IF, it is WHEN he sets his sights on them)

People don't see because they choose not to, because any criticism whatsoever of anyone in Israel is "antisemitism".

I don't care if someone's Jewish (or Catholic, Muslim, etc.)...I do care if they are a murderous warmonger and there have been historically and still are a lot of that type in religion since the beginning of humanity, because religion is usually an excuse to kill the people who are in their way or perceived to be.

And still, people think Netanyahu is just 'defending his country'. Yeah, whatever.

[orangecrush]

12. ...

[highplainsdem]

13. Oh, hell. Israel wants the water from the Litani river. This is partly a resource grab. They've wanted

that river's water for decades. And this war is giving them an excuse to grab it.

From the Christian Science Monitor in 1982:

https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0120/012034.html

However, the Golan Heights are even more important in the context of Israel's future water policy as a steppingstone - quite literally - to the liberation or occupation of the southeastern corner of the Lebanon and physical control of the Litani. While estimates of the available flow from the Litani differ considerably, Israeli sources argue that a minimum of 400 million cubic meters yearly could be diverted into Israel - or as much as 700 million if the Lebanese dam upstream could be destroyed or its spillways opened.

The Litani River has long been a target (since the early Zionist settlements in Palestine under the British mandate) but that target - essentially academic until recently - now adds an ever increasing urgency to the older designs upon the Litani waters.

Plans for acquiring the Litani were articulated soon after Israel came into being in 1948, and the recently published diaries of Moshe Sharret, reveal such Cabinet-level discussions in the mid-1950s. At a more mundane level, restaurant place mats in the Tel Aviv Sheraton Hotel show the historical boundaries of Israel spanning the area of today's Lebanon well north of the Litani. Historical claims thus correlate closely with economic exigency, and Israeli publications refer tellingly to the ''wasted'' resources of the Litani juxtaposed to Israel's needs.

The waters of the Litani River promise an increase of between 25 and 45 percent in water availability, all the more alluring now that the sewage reclamation projects, the last options for indigenous water, are being completed. Diversion of the Litani into Israel is physically easy, a simpler undertaking than the National Water Carrier, and the engineering studies are reportedly complete.

[paleotn]

15. In a sandbox, it's all about water.

[highplainsdem]

19. True. But I hadn't seen Israel's wanting Lebanon's water mentioned recently. Seeing the river's name

triggered some memories of what I'd heard about decades ago.

[angrychair]

29. Probably about more than just water

IDF soldiers have been seen wearing a patch on their shoulder called the "greater Israel" patch which shows nation of Israel over much of that area of the ME, including historic Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, portions of Syria and Iraq, Egypt's Sinai and northern Saudi Arabia, with the words written next to the map saying "Promised Land of Israel" in Hebrew.

While the IDF has stated this is not an official part of the uniform it is a growing topic of conversation among ultra-nationalists and comments by Netanyahu last year did nothing to slow it down:

In August 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced strong support for a 'Greater Israel' vision in an interview, amid ongoing Gaza conflict. Settler leader Daniella Weiss publicly affirmed biblical borders spanning Nile to Euphrates in 2024.

When people in Arab countries, their literal neighbors, see or even just think they are wearing patches that show this "Greater Israel" being acted on in real life by literally trying to seize a piece of the land on that image, it's hard to ignore and I just don't think it's going to go well at all

Reference: https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/greater-israel-patch-middle-east-tensions-1783265

[Bayard]

31. They have no more right to do this,

Than Putin has of trying to retake the old USSR countries.

Bibi, Putin, and trump. They all need to go.

[Orrex]

17. 970 pounds of Iranian uranium unaccounted for, you say?

Hmm.

[Scalded Nun]

20. Bibi just loves the smell of genocide in the morning

[Wednesdays]

22. Well, why stop there?

Just take over everything from the Turkish border to India?

[Buns_of_Fire]

25. Bibi can probably TAKE it, but then will come the task of KEEPING it.

For that, you know he'll turn to his favorite sugar daddy. And should Daddy Americabucks balk, a subtle hint of maybe aligning Israel closer with Russia will take care of it, no problem. He knows his audience.

[angrychair]

27. They are already losing one war

And they are now starting another?!?

Seriously, what the fuck is going on?!?

[Bettie]

33. Netanyahu thinks he can

Get all of “greater Israel” and the orange idiot will encourage it.