The Empire's Frontlines: Zionist Expansion in the Middle East
A critical reminder that zionism functions as an extension of western imperialism.
Between December 9, 2025, and January 2, 2026, ACLED documented 1,656 incidents across Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria where the Israeli state and settlers were involved. These numbers tell a story not of isolated events, but of a coordinated regional campaign emanating from a single source: the Israeli military, armed and enabled by the United States.
Gaza: Violence Without End
Gaza recorded 340 events and at least 50 fatalities during this period — though the actual toll is certainly higher given the ongoing difficulties in body recovery and hospital access. The nature of these attacks reveals their character.
On December 19, Israeli tank shells struck a school near Mohammad al-Durra Hospital in Gaza City’s al-Tuffah neighborhood, which was sheltering displaced families and hosting a wedding celebration. At least seven people were killed, including children. A five-month-old infant, Ahmed Al-Nader, was among the dead. The attack transformed a wedding into a funeral — this was the third time the young couple had attempted to marry, only to have their plans destroyed by zionist violence.
This occurred during a so-called “ceasefire.” According to the Gaza Government Media Office, Israeli forces have killed over 424 and injured 1,199 Palestinians since it began on October 10.
On December 13, an Israeli drone struck a vehicle at Al-Nabulsi roundabout, killing five and wounding over 25. Israel claimed it was targeting a Hamas commander — a justification applied to strikes on hospitals, schools, tent camps, and residential buildings throughout this war. Of Gaza’s 340 events, 266 were classified as “explosions/remote violence,” which are classified as air strikes, drone attacks, and artillery bombardment. Seldom is it the case that the IDF directly engages with Palestinian resistance factions, but it opts instead for bombing entire communities. This is industrial-scale killing, mechanized and routine.
The West Bank: Settler Violence and Military Raids
The West Bank recorded 1,016 events with 60 fatalities, including 346 riots and 127 incidents of violence against civilians. This reflects the two-pronged approach by the zionist movement: allow settler militia and gangs to initiate random attacks, then use military raids to arrest and kill Palestinians for resisting the violence of settlers.
OCHA documented 1,680 settler attacks across 270+ Palestinian communities as of December 4, 2025, an average of five incidents per day, a 30 percent increase over the number of incidents in 2024. A quarter of all Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers in 2025 were children.
On December 22, Israeli settlers shot and wounded three Palestinians in a Bedouin community near Jerusalem, a 60-year-old man and his two adult sons, following a raid from a newly established outpost.
This is not random violence. It is a systematic displacement. Settler violence and access restrictions have driven families from 85 Palestinian communities over three years, with 33 communities completely emptied of residents.
Lebanon: Israeli Air Strikes on Communities Seek to Facilitate “Disarmament”
Lebanon recorded 191 events and at least 13 fatalities, 148 involving Israeli air strikes or drone attacks, despite a ceasefire since November 2024. On November 28, 2025, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health stated that since the ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed 335 and wounded at least 973.
On December 22, an Israeli drone struck a vehicle near Sidon, killing three, including a Lebanese soldier, according to Lebanon’s army. Israel claimed all were Hezbollah operatives; Lebanon rejected this.
These strikes occur within a specific political context. On December 18, French, Saudi, and American officials met in Paris to finalize a roadmap for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Western powers press Lebanon to strip Hezbollah of weapons while excusing Israeli violations of the same ceasefire.
Hezbollah insists it will not disarm while Israel occupies southern Lebanon and conducts daily attacks — a position the ongoing strikes only reinforce.
Syria: Zionist Occupation Expands
Syria recorded 109 events — 85 of them “strategic developments”: Israeli ground incursions, checkpoint establishments, and military positioning.
Following regime change in December 2024, Israel declared the 1974 Disengagement Agreement void and expanded deep into Syrian territory. On December 28, Israeli forces detained six Syrian men — five of whom were searching for mushrooms on their own farmland.
Syria made up 109 events in the ACLED data related to Israeli advancements, though this belies the violence of Israel’s ongoing occupation. Of these, 85 were “strategic developments”: ground incursions, checkpoint establishments, and detentions throughout Quneitra province. President Ahmed al-Sharaa — formerly Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, once a designated terrorist with a $10 million US bounty on his head until Washington dropped it days after Assad’s ouster — has stated that Israel conducted over 1,000 air strikes and 400 ground incursions since December 2024. His denunciations of Israeli aggression are inherently political: he must appear to resist zionist annexation of Syrian territory to maintain domestic legitimacy while simultaneously serving Western interests that facilitated his rise to power. This is the colonial playbook: imperial powers have always relied on local formations to administer their systems of violence. Al-Sharaa’s government will not confront Israeli expansion because it cannot; his authority depends on the same forces enabling it.
Understanding the System
These four theaters of violence are not separate conflicts. They represent a single regional project: the consolidation and expansion of Israeli territorial control, backed by unlimited US and Western support.
From October 2023 to September 2025, the United States has provided at least $21.7 billion in military aid to Israel — F-15s, F-16s, F-35s, Apache helicopters, tens of thousands of bombs and missiles, and advanced targeting systems. Every drone strike in Gaza, every settlement expansion in the West Bank, every incursion into Syria operates with US weapons and European diplomatic cover.
In February 2025, Trump declared an “emergency” to expedite $4 billion in additional funding, reversing Biden’s laughable partial pause on certain weapons that was more of a political stunt than anything that was going to slow the genocide. When the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, Trump sanctioned the ICC itself.
This is not “aid to an ally.” It constitutes direct funding for a colonial project. Israel cannot maintain simultaneous operations across four countries. It cannot flatten Gaza’s infrastructure, expand settlements, strike Lebanon daily, and occupy Syrian territory without the continuous flow of US and European weapons and money.
The violence documented in this data is not the product of ancient hatreds or intractable conflict. It is the predictable outcome of a system designed to produce exactly these results: the displacement of indigenous populations, the seizure of territory, and the crushing of resistance.
The 123 people killed in these three weeks did not die in a conflict between equal parties. They were killed during the expansion of a project serving Western imperial interests: a militarized outpost that is meant to guarantee Western access to strategic resources. The data is clear, the funding is traceable, the responsibility is assignable — what remains is the political will to act.