In the wake of Hezbollah’s attack of hundreds of rockets on Israeli military targets, and hours before an important speech by Shiite leader Hassan Nasrallah, Sky News military analyst Sean Bell tries his own assessment of this morning’s developments in the Middle East.
It is recalled that the Israeli military announced today that “around a hundred” of its aircraft “targeted and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launch pads” during the flights which he launched to prevent a major attack by the Lebanese Shiite movement on Israel. .
We are still working to prevent real-time threats.
IDF fighter jets have just hit additional Hezbollah launchers in several areas in southern Lebanon and a terrorist cell operating in the Khiam region of southern Lebanon. pic.twitter.com/j6E1WNwb4d
– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 25, 2024
Hezbollah, for its part, said it had fired “a large number of drones” and “more than 320 Katyusha rockets” at 11 Israeli military bases and the Syrian Golan Heights in Israel in retaliation for the death of a member of its military arm there the Israeli Strike on Beirut on July 30.
The statements from both sides give a completely different picture of the events that unfolded on Sunday morning. “Our military task for today has been completed and accomplished,” Hezbollah said in a statement. Israel, for its part, claims that Hezbollah’s attack caused minimal damage and that the attack was prevented. much worse with the movement that would have focused on the north and center of the country.
Live footage of Lebanon and the Israeli skyline as tensions rise between the two countries.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 25, 2024
According to Bell, both Hezbollah and Israel are trying to control the information space: “Hezbollah wants to see this as a successful coup. Israel is trying to show that it managed to protect its citizens. “
Hezbollah used unguided rockets in its attack, which means, according to the analysis, that Israel’s Iron Dome was “very effective”.
Bell also pointed out two things that stand out from a military perspective, based on the information that Hezbollah and Israel have released so far.
“The Israeli strikes started about half an hour before Hezbollah struck. This indicates that this is a large information-driven operation. Since the end of July, Israel has been preparing for a major wave of attacks from Hezbollah and/or Iran. What seems to have happened now, as they saw it was going to happen [αυτή η επίθεση]they pressed the red button and everything started.
Another important element is size [των ισραηλινών χτυπημάτων]. A military operation with 100 aircraft is a very important response. In the past we have seen operations with two or three aircraft. All these jets are equipped with GPS-enabled weapons. GPS guidance means you need to know the targets in advance. The situation appears to be very dynamic, but this is a strong response from the Israelis,” Bell said.
According to him, despite the reinforcement of American military forces in the region in recent weeks, there is “no indication” that the US was involved. He believes that the American plane passengers and the submarine are in the area to deal with the threat from Iran. “But for now the situation looks like a powder keg ready to explode,” the analyst said.
The UN and the Lebanese Prime Minister want to stop the escalation
The UN coordinator in Lebanon and the blue-collar workers deployed in the country as well as the Lebanese Prime Minister called today for a de-escalation between the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah and Israel.
Najib Mikati said he was “in contact with Lebanese friends to stop the escalation” after Hezbollah announced it had launched a major offensive against Israel, which launched defensive strikes on Lebanese soil to limit the scope of the attack.
The UN coordinator in Lebanon and the UN Interim Force (UNIFIL) on the border between Israel and Lebanon called on Hezbollah and Israel to “stop any further escalation” and “ceasefire”.
The Lebanese Prime Minister believed that the most urgent thing was to “stop the Israeli aggression and implement the UN resolution 1701”, which ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
In their joint statement the UN coordinator and Unifil also emphasized the need to “return to the cessation of hostilities after the implementation of Resolution 1701”.
This decision states that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers may be deployed in the southern part of the country which is next to Israel.
For its part, Egypt warned of the risk of opening a new war front in Lebanon, as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, calling for stability.
With information from Sky News, APE-MPE
