Israel is seeking further escalation and the international community appears more concerned than ever about the possibility of a regional war breaking out
Israel managed to focus the attention of the whole world on its army’s new theater of operations in southern Lebanon, both with the most impressive double mass terrorist attack to date with the buzzers and radios and with the escalation of aerial bombardment that followed.
The operation by the Mossad and the army’s Unit 8200 intelligence unit appeared to be the opening move of an Israeli offensive against Hezbollah that has been planned for months. At the tactical level the mass IED attack that killed around 40 and injured nearly 3,000 people caused de facto chaos in the ranks of the Shiite organization. It was this chaos – despite the fact that rocket and missile fire from Hezbollah into Israel intensified – that Israeli forces took advantage of and moved into the next phase of operations, in an unprecedentedly intense barrage of airstrikes across southern Lebanon, allegedly according to positions of the organization.
Along with the airstrikes, Israeli forces in northern Israel, which have been mobilized for months, appeared through statements by the head of the northern command of the Israel Armed Forces (IDF) Lt.-Gen. Ori Gordin ready “to change the security situation in the area as quickly as possible”. These statements came after an inspection of the troops by the Minister of Defense himself Joab Gallantwho, while the buzzers were going off in the hands of Hezbollah members, declared that the war was entering a new phase and was being moved to the north. In other statements, Gallad hinted that further escalation is coming, saying: “Gradually, Hezbollah will pay an ever greater price.”
The pretext for the escalation is that Hezbollah attacks, which have intensified since October in support of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, have forced 70,000 Israelis to leave their homes in the north of the country. The aim of the Israeli operation at this stage is supposed to be the return to their homes. In order to achieve this, one of the plans of the Israelis, which has seen the light of day, is the creation of a security zone of more than ten kilometers from the Lebanese side. If Israel wants to implement this plan, the de facto next step is a ground invasion.
In this context, during the week the international community exerted intense pressure for an immediate de-escalation, which, however, as the situation is shaping up, it is rather unlikely that they will be respected, given the response from the side of Hezbollah, which through the mouth of the leader of the organization Hassan Nasrallah made it clear that he considers Israel’s moves a declaration of war. The Iranian leadership seems to agree with this, as it hastened to make it clear that the Israeli moves against Hezbollah will receive an overwhelming response.
At the same time, the fact that while everyone’s attention was focused on the border with Lebanon, the Israeli forces continued the genocidal massacre in the Gaza Strip and in the West Bank is also of particular interest. According to reports, there were extensive operations in the area between Rafah and the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt, while shelling continued elsewhere in Gaza, killing dozens of civilians.
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