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One could make the argument that the US and Israel committing genocide makes paramilitary action against them legal, since the US controls the UN security council through their veto power.
Right now Israel is an occupying power that systematically destroys civilian infrastructure and threatens an international force in Lebanon, making it permissible to fight back.
This is a complete and utter lie. Hezbollah's missile attacks throughout 2024 led to the evacuation of over 60,000 Israeli residents from northern Israel.
Try to imagine the US response to Mexico shooting that many missiles at a US city.
"Israel is an occupying power"
Israel isn't occupying Lebanon but Hezbollah is.
" making it permissible to fight back."
This is exactly what Israel did so brilliantly with the pager attack.
I still agree with e.g. HRW that Hezbollah did not do enough to protect civilians, but adjacent to the crimes of the IDF it's a rounding error.
IDF discplaced something like 1.5 million people in Lebanon, many of whom still aren't allowed to return to their homes and those that try are commonly murdered, and similarly those that try to repair their homes have their equipment destroyed or are killed. Recently Israel bombed a parking lot filled with bulldozers and excavators and the like, to halt reconstruction in Lebanon.
Claiming that one of the largest parties in lebanese politics "is an occupying power" is insane. Israel is building military facilities in Lebanon and controlling territory, as well as attacking both Beirut and the Beqaa valley every now and then in violation of the so called ceasefire agreement.
Courtney Bonneau has been reporting for a long time from the area, https://xcancel.com/cbonneauimages .
What an insane statement. Hezbollah was intentionally trying to kill as many civilians as possible with the missiles. The only reason they "only" killed 45 is because Israel has invested so much into the Iron Dome system.
Hezbollah isn't a political party. It is a proxy army of Iran. That is why they started shooting missiles at Israel after Oct 7 2023 even though it led to the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah
Hezbollah is a movement that is many things, among them one of the dominant parties in lebanese parliamentary politics. The name means 'Party of God', which is a hint. They also run hospitals, schools and other social services, as well as financial organisations. Due to the background as a militant mobilisation against israeli aggression they also have several armed factions, which is a very reasonable response to their southern neighbour.
Nasrallah and other Hezbollah leaders stated that they initiated militant action against Israel to support the palestinians and clearly expected it to shorten the genocidal campaign in the Gaza strip. As we now know, this strategy failed and Hezbollah misjudged the bloodthirst of israeli society as well as the degree of backing it would have from the US and european states. They should not have wasted time on a restrained attrition style campaign and instead acted more forcefully if they wanted to slow or halt the extermination of the palestinians.
As for Nasrallah, he is surely missed by many but he also spent his life expecting and preparing for martyrdom.
It's rather racist to think that the lebanese shia and their political parties are "puppets".
I'd enter into a conversation like that assuming the other parties in the conversation were aware there was a war going on.