The escalation between Israel and Hezbollah continues to mark milestones in recent weeks. After the skirmishes that began in October in parallel with the bombings in Gaza, which have grown to become a low-intensity war, the Lebanese militia launched its largest rocket offensive against the north of the Jewish State this Wednesday morning. There have been 160, in two batches, activating the alarms in different points, including the city of Tiberias, more than 60 kilometers away and on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. It is the attack that has reached the furthest from the border since the beginning of the current escalation, eight months ago. The projectiles have been intercepted by Israeli defense systems for the most part and no casualties have been reported. Hezbollah claims that they targeted military posts and a military factory, in response to the murder this Tuesday in the town of Yuaiya, in southern Lebanon, of one of its commanders, Taleb Abdala, and three other armed men, which the newspaper Al Akhbar, linked to the group, has described it as a “painful blow.”
Abdala was the commander of the central region (one of the most affected by crossfire) of the border area. And, along with Wissam al Tawil, number two in a unit of the elite Radwan force, the highest-ranking commander of Hezbollah’s military branch who died since October “on the road to Jerusalem,” as the group calls them when they are. by Israeli fire.
The escalation increases internal pressure on Israel to go to all-out war and increases the risk of a miscalculation that triggers it. May was already the month with the most crossfire since October. The Israeli army has killed about 320 Hezbollah militants (a few dozen of them in Syria) and more than 80 civilians since October. Shells from Lebanon have killed about 30 people across the border, 10 of them civilians. Some 94,000 Lebanese and 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from the border area for eight months, waiting for a horizon to return to their homes.
The Lebanese group has stepped on the accelerator in recent days, with attacks that at this time of year are also causing fires. Its drones, rockets and anti-tank projectiles are increasingly more accurate, taking advantage of the knowledge it has acquired on how to avoid interception.
Large scale offensive
On the 5th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the northern border to warn that the army was prepared “for very intense action in the north.” “At the beginning of the war we said that we would restore security both in the south [la frontera con Gaza] like in the north, and that’s what we’re doing […] Anyone who thinks they can hurt us and that we will respond by staying still is making a big mistake. We are prepared for very intense action in the north. One way or another, we will restore security in the north.” The chief of the General Staff, Herzi Halevi, said that the time is “approaching” when the Government “will have to make a decision” about an offensive in the northern neighbor.
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Hezbollah’s number two, Naim Qassem, insisted that they do not want an open conflict, but then warned that they are “ready for battle” and that “any Israeli expansion of war will be met with devastation, destruction and displacement in Israel.” ”. “If Israel wants an all-out war, we are prepared for it,” he added.
Hezbollah has reiterated since October that it will stop its offensive as soon as the bombing of Gaza stops. And that it will join the temporary ceasefire in the Strip. But Israel would no longer be satisfied with returning to status quo prior to October 7, leaving armed men on the other side of the border (in violation of a United Nations resolution that both parties fail to comply with on a daily basis), with the risk that they will launch a surprise attack like Hamas that day. The divide, which is experiencing its most dangerous moment since the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, is guarded by thousands of blue helmets under the leadership of a Spanish soldier, Aroldo Lázaro, and with one of the two sectors in command of Spain.
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