Hours before Israel and Hamas began to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza in Cairo, another front was ignited this Sunday in the Middle East, with the largest exchange of fire in two decades. Shortly before 5:00 a.m. (4:00 a.m. in mainland Spain), the Israeli army launched a surprise attack in Lebanon, which it describes as a “preventive attack” with some 100 planes opening fire on “thousands of rocket launchers” in 40 areas, mostly in the south of the country. Hezbollah announced shortly afterward the first phase – in the form of 320 rockets and drones against 11 military bases – of its retaliation for the assassination last month of its number two, Fuad Shukr, which it has declared “successfully completed.”
In Lebanon, Israeli strikes left three dead, officials said. The Israeli military said one navy soldier was killed and two others wounded during fighting in northern Israel, according to Reuters. While it did not provide details on the circumstances of the soldier’s death, Israeli media reported that the death occurred on a warship at sea when an interceptor from Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system attacked a drone fired by Hezbollah.
Despite the intensity of the exchange, the incident leaves a similar aftertaste to that between Iran and Israel last April: a measured attack, designed to avoid open war, which allows both sides to save face. The Shiite militia party can present to its followers the fact that it has fulfilled its threat to avenge the murder of its leader. Meanwhile, Israel displays its air superiority and intelligence information, having acted 15 minutes before the planned attack and having located Hezbollah’s launchers. At least, until the next confrontation. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has already warned Hezbollah leaders that this attack “is not the end of the story,” in statements collected by various agencies.
Anti-aircraft alerts and images of interceptions by the anti-missile shield have followed one another in the Jewish State in a short time, as well as bombings in Lebanon, in two waves. The state agency defined these attacks as “the most violent” since October 8, 2023, when the clashes began.
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Israeli military authorities initially declared a state of emergency for 48 hours, limiting outdoor gatherings to 30 people and closing access to beaches north of Tel Aviv. But by midday, the army lifted the emergency restrictions in most of the country.
After two hours of crossfire, Hezbollah announced the end of the “first phase” of its response and the country’s main airport, Ben Gurion, near Tel Aviv, reopened its airspace, which had been closed for a few hours. Beirut airport, considered the first Israeli target in a major war, also operated normally on Sunday. Likewise, a meeting planned in the Egyptian capital to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza was also held, and Hamas had announced its attendance.
The Lebanese militia limited its retaliation to areas in the north that it had already attacked in the 10-month low-intensity war it has waged with Israel in parallel to the Gaza war. However, it warned that this was only the “first phase.” Hezbollah is also not interested in upping the ante in exchanging blows with Israel. A militia official said on Sunday, on condition of anonymity, that the attack on Israel in revenge for the killing of its number two on July 30 had been delayed for almost a month because of “political considerations.” Among those reasons, he highlighted ongoing talks on a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip. The official said in written comments shared with the media that Hezbollah had “worked” to ensure that its response to Shukr’s killing did not trigger a full-scale war, Reuters reports.
On Sunday afternoon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah issued a televised address in which he provided details of the early morning attack on Israel. The main target, he said, was the Glilot base north of Tel Aviv, which houses the headquarters of the Mossad and other intelligence services. Hezbollah sought to demonstrate its ability to reach deep into Israel (more than 100 kilometers) and to choose a target linked to the assassination it was avenging, that of its number two. The militia launched more than 300 rockets, so that drones could then fly over, and chose to attack only military targets, not civilians. Nasrallah said the operation had gone “as planned,” thereby denying statements by the Israeli military that its preemptive strikes had stopped a broader Hezbollah attack.
The escalation – unprecedented since the war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006 – is the result of a growing increase in tension, depth and firepower between the two, fuelled by the flames of the invasion of Gaza – which has just surpassed 40,000 deaths – and which reached a turning point a month ago. At that time, a rocket launched from Lebanon killed 12 minors playing football in the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory occupied by Israel. It was apparently a mistake by Hezbollah (which denies it) in targeting a nearby military base. Israel then assassinated Hezbollah’s number two, no less than in its stronghold in Beirut (Dahiya) and, the following day, Ismail Haniya, Hamas’ political leader, in Tehran.
Iran and its ally Hezbollah have vowed revenge, but diplomatic pressure, the negotiation of a ceasefire in Gaza to prevent it, and the value of suspense as “part of the answer” (in the words of the militia’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah) have postponed it until now.
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