June 6th is remembered in most of the world as the date the allies landed in Normandy. This year is the 80th anniversary of that event. American President Biden flew to France to participate in the ceremonies. But it is also the date that Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982. That invasion marked an early attempt by Israel to create a quiet border on the North side. It failed. But the damage done to Lebanon scarred that country for decades. It also marked the emergence of the Hezbollah terrorists as a major force in Lebanese society. Even today, nothing can happen in Lebanese politics without the consent of Hezbollah. The group has near total control of the Shiite population, and maintains a militia that is stronger than all other factions combined. Beirut port is a shambles (as is the national economy of Lebanon) because Hezbollah stored munitions in a grain elevator in the port. The material exploded. It let a gigantic crater that has not been repaired which marked the beginning of Lebanon’s descent into economic ruin. Hezbollah continues to block any attempt to investigate the explosion (and to also maintain an impotent national government).
Hezbollah is not just a terrorist militia. It maintains a network of schools and social organizations that are the mainstay of the entire Shiite Muslim population in Lebanon. Iran supplies Hezbollah with funds and weapons. In return, Hezbollah sent a military contingent to help Assad in the Syrian Civil War, and Hezbollah keeps military forces on the Israel border in order to keep tensions there at a high level.
Hezbollah has emulated Hamas by digging tunnels under the border with Israel, but Israeli forces have been able, so far, to locate and block any infiltration attempts using them.
The last open conflict between Israel and Hezbollah ended with a UN resolution that among other things, called for the withdrawal of all Hezbollah armed forces to locations north of the Litani River. Hezbollah simply disregarded this. Nasrallah has tried to justify his actions by claiming that Israel occupies Lebanese territory. UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon) conducted a new border survey with representation from both Israel and Lebanon to mark the border. Nasrallah ignored those results and continues to keep armed units south of the Litani (and to build up a stockpile of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles from Iran). An Israeli-Hezbollah war would not be the same as the current war in Gaza.
Wetherhorn 