As the Israeli genocide in Gaza continues to rage on without an end in sight – it is becoming clear that Netanyahu has no end goal in mind. Beyond mindlessly bombing Gaza into dust every day and driving its battered population from north to south and back again, Israel has achieved nothing of note militarily.

This lack of endpoint means as the war of extermination approaches a year, Netanyahu’s government has no victory state, which would allow him to justify his actions in front of his own coalition government and declare the mission accomplished.

As such, many Middle East commentators predicted that the Israeli regime’s next step would be further escalation – this time with Lebanon. It had already tried once when it attempted to goad Iran into a regional conflict that would draw in the United States and the Gulf states. It is not difficult to imagine it going for Lebanon this time, with the same objective in mind.

While this possibility had existed in the background of Israeli commentary, it has now come to the fore. Western media organizations – taking a leaf out of the Iraq war playbook – have already started manufacturing consent for the attack on the country. With threats flying from Tel Aviv and Tehran, and warnings from the rest of the world, the situation is poised delicately. Hezbollah is much more capable than Hamas and Lebanon is a nation-state of comparable size to Israel, not an open-air concentration camp like Gaza. An all-out conflict will be devastating for the region.

The West must rein in its attack dog in the Middle East. Escalation with Lebanon and a possible spillover to the rest of the region will lead to an uncontrollable situation with nuclear weapons in the mix.