Hezbollah fired 100 missiles towards the Galilee and the occupied Golan (European)

Beirut -

The past few days recorded major developments in the “war of attrition” between Hezbollah and Israel, which expanded the area of ​​engagement deep into Lebanon, by launching air strikes on the villages of Baalbek in the Bekaa, which is about 100 kilometers to the south.

It also intensified its marching sorties in the skies of Lebanon, targeting neighborhoods and residential buildings under the pretext of striking Hezbollah targets, which raised the death toll of civilian martyrs to about 55 civilians since the beginning of the war, and more than 820 wounded.

While the number of Hezbollah deaths on the battlefield, since the eighth of last October, has reached approximately 240, it continues to escalate its strikes in depth and range, both quantitatively and qualitatively, as it launched 100 missiles towards the Galilee and the Golan, last Tuesday, after the Israeli strikes in the Bekaa and Baalbek.

It also continues to target air defense headquarters, Israeli barracks, spy systems, and concentrations of occupation soldiers and their deployment locations.

Failed endeavors

Observers believe that Washington's efforts, recently led by its special envoy Amos Hockstein, to separate the Lebanon and Gaza fronts have failed so far.

They attribute this to the fact that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on continuing the fight with Hezbollah until it is removed from the south of the Litani River and to ensure permanent stability for the residents of the northern settlements, and to the party’s insistence on linking the fate of the two fronts, which was confirmed by its Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, in his speech. The latter, saying: “The Support Front will remain in a position of support no matter the time.”

On the ground, fears were renewed that Israel would activate the “war of assassinations” in Lebanon against the party and the Palestinian organizations, after an Israeli march targeted, last Wednesday, the leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Hadi Mustafa, in the city of Tire, who is from the Rashidiya camp.

About a month ago, Israel failed in an attempt to assassinate a leader of the movement in the Lebanese Jadra region, which is about 60 kilometers from the border.

Politically, Lebanon's official position is floundering in its dealings with the flare-up of the border front, amid popular fears of sliding into a wide-scale war and repeating the scenario of the July 2006 aggression.

But Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib rules out this, suggesting - in his latest statements - that the "war of attrition that Israel is waging through its marches on Lebanon will be prolonged."

This has led analysts to suggest that Lebanon will move towards the Syrian model, as the occupation has continued - for years - to direct military and strategic strikes in Syria and violate its skies.

Painful blows

In a reading of the developments on the ground between Hezbollah and Israel, the expert and professor of political science and international relations, Ali Fadlallah, believes that the expansion of the scope of the Israeli strikes deep into Lebanon is the result of it receiving painful strikes in the Galilee and the Golan, pushing it to conceal its enormous losses, “especially since Hezbollah is adopting a policy of striking Qualitative objectives, militarily and strategically.”

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, he calls for not to ignore the reality of the first reality of its kind in the history of Israel, as the party’s strikes forced more than 100,000 settlers to flee from the north and imposed a security buffer zone - acknowledged by the Israelis - that now exceeds 5 kilometers.

Fadlallah finds that most of the weapons used by Hezbollah in the current battle are similar to those it used in the July 2006 war. This matter, in his opinion, provokes Israel, which is depleting its military capabilities in exchange for the party’s “coolness” in revealing its full capabilities, after about For 18 years, he worked to develop his military arsenal and his missile and air defense system.

The academic says: "We are facing a strange battle between Hezbollah and Israel. It is neither a defense nor an attack, but rather specific military strikes and continuous attrition and provocation."

What worries the occupation, in the opinion of the same expert, especially after Hezbollah shot down a highly advanced Israeli “Hormuz 450” drone on February 26, is the party’s air defense system “capable of breaking Israel’s air superiority, if it dares to launch a more extensive war on Lebanon".

Fadlallah believes that Israel's attack on Baalbek constituted a violation of the geographical scope, and not of the military rules of engagement, especially since the deaths of civilians in Lebanon often come within the framework of its directing military strikes that it claims target Hezbollah targets.

Despite the differences appearing in the media between the Netanyahu government and the team of US President Joe Biden regarding the management of the war in Gaza and the supporting fronts, Israel - according to Fadlallah - is still unable to launch a large-scale aggression against Lebanon for fear of its repercussions on it.

He adds: "Over the course of more than 5 months, Netanyahu and his government ministers threatened Lebanon more than 100 times, while no one could have imagined that there would be more than 500 destroyed homes in the northern settlements, not to mention the massive military losses and the dead and wounded soldiers that are being preserved." .

Battlefield

For his part, military expert Khaled Hamadeh believes that Israel brought Lebanon into the heart of the war, “because it outperformed Hezbollah by targeting the Lebanese interior, in addition to carrying out assassinations from Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri and his companions in the southern suburbs, to party leader Wissam Tawil, and others.”

He told Al Jazeera Net that Israel has dedicated its infiltration into the security system in Lebanon and Hezbollah, which is on military alert and paying a heavy bill for military deaths, and turning the border villages into a battlefield, which has pushed tens of thousands of southerners to flee as well.

Hamadeh believes that the issue in southern Lebanon is no longer just military, but is linked to a new American vision, which is based on supporting Israel in Gaza as well as Lebanon, regardless of public differences, to move towards permanent solutions instead of temporary ones.

Before the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation, Washington - in the opinion of the military expert himself - wanted to strengthen its alliances in the region and strengthen peace initiatives with Israel, but it collided with an explosive security reality entitled the Palestinian issue.

In light of what Hamadeh describes as the Lebanese state’s distancing itself from the decision of peace and war, he rules out Israel going for the July 2006 scenario, after Hezbollah’s steadfastness before it - at that time - constituted a military defeat for it.

But he is likely to move towards escalation, with more violent military and focused strikes, which will exacerbate the instability in Lebanon and make it similar to the Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni model, as he put it.

Military expert Khaled Hamadeh says, “Hezbollah’s insistence on linking the two fronts, in light of Iran’s distancing itself from the scene, has plunged Lebanon into a spiral of open confrontation with Israel and behind it Washington.”

On the other hand, political science professor Ali Fadlallah believes that despite all the verbal and military escalation, the Lebanon front will subside the day after the aggression against Gaza stops, because war and the ignition of fronts have become exhausting and worrying options for all parties.

Source: Al Jazeera