Democrats in the United States Senate have raised questions about the US military’s potential role in establishing vast “evacuation zones” in Lebanon, Gaza and Iran.
In a letter addressed to Brad Cooper, head of the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), 12 legislators said mass displacement orders “likely contravene international laws the United States has helped develop around humane warfare”.
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The letter – sent on Monday and made public on Thursday – largely focused on Israel’s conduct in Lebanon, where the Israeli military is systematically turning border towns that it has depopulated into rubble.
“The declaration of military evacuation zones has been used to permanently displace people and destroy homes and towns – acts that are in violation of international law,” the legislators wrote.
“Furthermore, no declaration of evacuation zones or ‘kill zones’ absolves Israeli and US forces from the absolute legal responsibility to determine that each individual person or civilian facility targeted by drones, jets, and gunfire is, in fact, a military target.”
Signatories to the letter include prominent progressives such as Peter Welch, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen.
Chris Coons, a centrist and staunch Israel supporter, also signed.
The Senate push underscores the growing international criticism over Israel’s conduct in Lebanon, including in the US, where the country once enjoyed unquestioning bipartisan support.
Throughout its genocidal war on Gaza, Israel used displacement orders to depopulate large areas of the territory, and then blew up nearly every structure in the evacuated area.
Critics have said the tactic amounts to ethnic cleansing.
Israeli officials have publicly admitted that they aim to re-create the same model in South Lebanon, creating a desolate, uninhabitable no-man’s land that would serve as a buffer zone that would not require permanent military occupation.
Even after the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Lebanon started last month, Israel declared a so-called “green zone” of dozens of Lebanese towns, where it has proceeded to demolish entire neighbourhoods.
Israel has continued to issue displacement orders for parts of South Lebanon even after the ceasefire.
The US legislators’ letter to Cooper raised a series of questions about US involvement in the Israeli displacement campaign.
“Have forces under your command provided refuelling services, intelligence, or other assistance for Israeli imposition of evacuation zones in Lebanon and/or Iran?” it asked.
“Have you received any intelligence assessments or analyses on the military utility of Israel’s mass evacuation zones in Lebanon and/or Iran?”
It also questioned whether the US has authorised any support for Israeli military operations in areas under displacement orders.
“Have any personnel under your command shared intelligence with the Israeli government that could be used to support the creation, enforcement, or targeting of evacuation zones in Lebanon and/or Iran?” the senators wrote.
“Has anyone under your command analysed whether such sharing would violate the terms of any intelligence sharing agreements with regards to the use of any US-provided intelligence in operations that might violate international law, US law and the laws of armed conflict?”
Separately, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has introduced a War Powers resolution in the House of Representatives to end any US involvement in the Israeli assault on Lebanon.
On Thursday, Sanders said that the regional war launched by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not only about Lebanon.
“Israel’s Defense Minister says, ‘The fate of southern Lebanon will be the same as that of Gaza,’” Sanders wrote on X.
“2,702 people have been killed there, 1.6 million displaced, and dozens of villages destroyed. NO MORE US MILITARY AID TO NETANYAHU.”
Trump has been brokering direct talks between Lebanon and Israel, with another round of negotiations set for Washington next week.
The US president has also promised to “make Lebanon great again”, but he has done little to rein in Israeli abuses and its destruction campaign there.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, Washington has provided its Middle East ally with more than $21bn in direct military assistance.