In northern Israel and southern Lebanon, where the sounds of rockets increase and the sky lights up with showers of explosions, the region stands on the edge of an abyss from which a worried world warning of a costly war outside.
The armed movement between Israel and Hezbollah, which began many years ago, is taking a more complex and dangerous turn. As each party tries to assert its strength and position, questions arise as to whether this conflict will lead to an all-out war or a diplomatic solution that will end decades of conflict and tension.
Israel launched airstrikes on Hezbollah targets on Monday, killing hundreds of people, according to Lebanese authorities.
Escalation due to diplomacy
In his strategy to deal with the northern front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relies on the principle of “escalation to reduce escalation,” a strategy aimed at implementing a diplomatic solution by increase airstrikes on Hezbollah positions and directly target its leaders.
Netanyahu, in statements on Monday, said that the Israeli army is “changing the security balance” in northern Israel.
Netanyahu said from an air force trench in the Ministry of Defense, according to a statement issued by his office, “I promised that we would change the balance of security, the balance of power in the north, and this is exactly what we are doing,” saying that “Israel is not waiting for the danger, but that it is expecting it.”
In this context, Nick Patton Walsh, CNN’s international security correspondent, says, “So-called peace wars rarely succeed, and they are often optional, as true with the recent rise in Israel.”
One of the main tools in this escalation is Israel’s precision airstrikes on Hezbollah positions. According to Walsh, Israel was able to cause significant damage to the party’s infrastructure and leadership.
This approach is based on the assumptions that the party, which was tired in the Syrian war and lost part of its military strength, will not be able to respond with the same force it showed in the past.
However, military analysis shows that Hezbollah may resort to escalating missile attacks as a final response, which could further complicate the situation and lead to a wider explosion in the region .
Israel’s vision for the future may rest on the idea that continued pressure will weaken the party in the long run, but this idea is still fraught with dangers, as Walsh believes in a recent study publish it. CNN website .
Israel’s perspective: a political or military goal?
In an interview with Al-Hurra TV, Danny Ayalon, former Israeli ambassador to Washington, explained that “Israel aims to save lives by distinguishing between Hezbollah fighters and Lebanese civilians.
He said that Hezbollah “uses civilians as human shields, hiding its weapons and missiles in residential homes.”
He said, “We have issued warnings to Lebanese civilians to evacuate areas we believe have Hezbollah military bases.
Israel launched airstrikes on hundreds of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley in the east of the country, and the northern region near Syria, in the largest wave of strikes targeting the group. .
Israel called on the Lebanese to evacuate the areas where they said the group kept their weapons.
Ayalon explained Israel’s position that tries to justify airstrikes that often kill civilians. He said Hezbollah is “ultimately to blame for civilian deaths, not the Israeli army,” because Hezbollah is “hiding weapons in civilian homes.”
Ayalon explains that the Israeli government waited “11 months” from last October before starting to implement this increase, and that Hezbollah “was the one who started the attacks in a way savage,” as he said.
The American situation
On the other side of the conflict, the United States is doing its best to achieve calm. Roberts Wood, Deputy US Representative to the United Nations, said in an interview with Al-Hurra that “the American goal is to find a diplomatic solution that will allow the Israelis and Lebanese to return to their homes safely.”
Many US administration officials are working to calm the situation in the region through talks with both sides, according to Wood.
Wood says the United States sees a diplomatic solution as a way out of the growing crisis, adding that “there are conversations about what’s happening in Lebanon.” and that the main objective was “to prevent the war from increasing to its wider extent.”
A senior official from the US State Department said on Monday that the United States will talk to friends and partners about “concrete ideas” to prevent the war from spreading.
Lebanon’s bloody day … renewed strikes on the Bekaa and targeting the “third man”
On Monday, several areas in southern and eastern Lebanon came under a series of intense Israeli raids from the morning hours, the death toll, according to the latest updates from the Ministry of Health, reached around 274 dead , an unprecedented fee for about a year, while reports emerged of Israel targeting a prominent Hezbollah leader.
Israeli officials said the recent increase in airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon is aimed at getting the Iran-backed group to agree to a political solution.
But the official, who asked to remain anonymous, said in a statement to reporters in New York that President Joe Biden’s administration aims to “reduce tensions…
“I don’t recall, at least in recent memory, a time when there was an increase or intensification of a fundamental calm and led to a significant stabilization of the situation,” he said.
Lebanon’s victims and the impact of the conflict
On the Lebanese side, the authorities announced that Israel’s raid on Lebanon on Monday resulted in the killing of more than 490 people, including women and children. These numbers show the great loss of people, which brings to mind the memory of the 2006 war.
Thousands of Lebanese began to flee from the south to Beirut and the northern cities, in an attempt to escape the growing destruction.
Live video of the moment a Lebanese journalist was injured in an Israeli attack
Social media pioneers in Lebanon circulated a video clip showing the moment the editor-in-chief of the “Maraya International Network,” Fadi Boudia, was injured alive during his Skype participation in the program “Political Ink ”, which is broadcast on the Iraqi “iNews” Channel.
The Israeli raid comes two days after Hezbollah’s deepest attack since October 8, as it targeted the Ramat David airbase and a facility belonging to the Rafael Military Industries Company, using in its attack a new type of missiles called “Fadi 1” and “Fadi 2.”.
The move is believed to be the largest since the 2006 war, and reflects the growing fear that the current conflict will turn into an all-out war.
Targeted weapons and increased threats
The Israeli army, which has launched more than 1,600 airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, says it succeeded in destroying several weapons and missile sites hidden in civilian homes.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the army is “ready to carry out a ground attack if necessary,” highlighting the seriousness of the current operations.
But these strikes could lead to a response from Hezbollah, which has around 150,000 missiles, and has already fired hundreds of missiles into northern Israel.
Hezbollah’s missiles vary between short and long range, and have capabilities that allow them to accurately target military and civilian areas.
In this tense context, the United Nations peacekeeping forces suspended their patrols in southern Lebanon, as the situation had become very dangerous due to the volume of the exchange of fire.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, expressed his “deep concern” about the escalation of violence, calling for him to calm the situation and looking for diplomatic solutions.
The head of foreign policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, said on Monday that the escalation between Israel and the Hezbollah group in Lebanon is almost a war.
Speaking to reporters, Borrell said, “If this situation isn’t war, I don’t know what you would call it. “
The British Foreign Secretary said: “I am appalled by the launching of missiles and airstrikes in Lebanon and Israel and the resulting civilian casualties.”
He said, according to Reuters, “I will repeat my call to both parties for an immediate ceasefire, and I will emphasize it when I meet the G7 ministers tonight.”
Who will pay the price?
So far, civilians seem to be paying the highest price in this ongoing conflict. As Israel and Hezbollah trade off, hundreds of innocent people are killed, and thousands are displaced from their homes.
Although both parties try to defend their actions in terms of self-defense, the reality on the ground shows a more complex picture, because it becomes difficult to distinguish between military and civilian workers.
The questions that arise now are: Is there real hope for a diplomatic solution? Can American and UN efforts succeed in stopping the rise?
History shows that Hezbollah, even after receiving major blows, is able to rebuild and return with greater strength. On the other hand, it seems that Israel will not hesitate to continue its military operations if a political agreement is not reached that ends the party’s threats.
The future remains uncertain, and tensions in the region are likely to rise. While the international community is trying to find a solution, the two parties are still in a difficult position because none of them seem ready to compromise.
If a political solution that satisfies all parties is not reached, the specter of war will continue to loom on the horizon.
2024-09-23 18:50:33
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