US senators question CENTCOM about forced population displacements in Lebanon, Iran

A group of 12 Democratic senators sent a letter to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) questioning the coordination between Israel and the United States in establishing vast "evacuation zones" in Lebanon and Iran, resulting in significant forced displacements denounced as grave violations of international humanitarian law.

In a letter dated May 4 addressed to the head of CENTCOM, which the American news agency Associated Press (AP) obtained, the members of Congress pointed out that these sweeping warnings covering hundreds of square kilometers "have served to permanently displace populations and destroy homes and towns," adding that some civilians who refused to leave their homes in these zones were killed in subsequent strikes.

'Death zones'

Since the start of the American-Israeli war against Iran, which quickly spread to Lebanon with Hezbollah's entry into the war on March 2, the Israeli army has regularly issued warnings with maps covering large portions of Lebanese and Iranian territory, ordering all civilians to flee these areas.

According to the United Nations, these actions have led to more than 1.2 million displaced people in Lebanon since March 2. Israel had already widely employed such practices in its offensive against the Gaza Strip, where the conduct of hostilities by the Israeli army has been accused of constituting genocide by numerous experts, including a UN-commissioned panel.

The 12 lawmakers, led by Vermont Senator Peter Welch, believe that Israel's practice of unilaterally declaring massive evacuation warnings in Lebanon and Iran "likely contravenes the international laws that the United States helped to develop regarding humanitarian warfare." Other signatories include Bernie Sanders, Vermont's other senator and an independent allied with the Democrats, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.

The email also asks the head of CENTCOM to what extent U.S. forces have supported and coordinated with Israel in establishing military targets in Iran or Lebanon and conducting bombings, or if they have provided assistance or intelligence that helped the Israeli army impose these evacuation zones, which covered more than 1,600 square kilometers in Lebanon.

The senators also contend that the establishment of such so-called "death zones" does not absolve Israeli and U.S. forces "from their absolute legal responsibility to ensure that every person or civilian installation targeted by drones, aircraft or gunfire is indeed a military objective."

They also state that the use of these zones has been associated with "the deaths of thousands of civilians." In Lebanon, at least 2,727 people have been killed since March 2 by these Israeli attacks, according to the latest figures from the Health Ministry, while Iranian authorities report more than 3,000 deaths in American-Israeli strikes since Feb. 28.

'Turning point' within the Democratic Party

Israel contends that these forced evacuation orders are designed "to keep civilians out of dangerous areas ... where Hezbollah operates," which has tunnels and weapons caches in several villages in southern Lebanon.

However, according to international law experts, Israel's warnings are inconsistent, often excessively broad and imprecise, and sometimes issued on very short notice or in the middle of the night. In some instances, evacuation orders are not followed by any strikes, while in others, strikes hit residential areas with no prior warning.

The letter was sent three weeks after an initiative by Senator Bernie Sanders, backed by about 30 lawmakers, aimed at blocking arms sales to Israel — a sign of growing dissatisfaction within the party toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Two resolutions aiming to prevent the U.S. sale of bulldozers and bombs to Israel, however, were rejected, as all Republican lawmakers opposed them — by votes of 40 to 59 and 36 to 63.