The Middle East is on the brink after a mass attack on Hezbollah saw thousands of its militants’ pagers explode – just hours after Israel’s prime minister vowed to step up military action against Lebanon.
While Israel has not confirmed that it was behind the pager blasts – which left some 2,800 Hezbollah members and civilians injured and nine dead in Lebanon and Syria – several security sources have blamed the IDF and Mossad spy agency for the attack.
Hostile rhetoric on both sides was building even before the blasts amid ongoing cross-border fire between Lebanon and Israel over the past year, as Hezbollah continues to pummel Israel in a show of support to its allies Hamas in Gaza.
Meanwhile, reports have emerged that Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to sack his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, who is widely seen as the most vocal government minister pushing for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza to free Israeli hostages.
This means that the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza appears evermore distant at the same time as tensions on Israel’s northern border are spiking, with Netanyahu seemingly pushing ahead for broader escalation.
Reports have emerged that Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to sack his defence minister, Yoav Gallant
Ambulances arrive to American University of Beirut Medical Centre (AUBMC) yesterday
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike on the village of Blida in southern Lebanon, as seen from an undisclosed location in the Upper Galilee, northern Israel, 17 September
The sudden and unexpected detonations gave way to widespread panic and chaotic scenes in images shared on social media and broadcast by Lebanese and Israeli outlets
Over the weekend, Israel’s premier called for a ‘change in the balance of forces on our northern border,’ amid the near-daily attacks by Hezbollah, while pledging to do ‘whatever is necessary’ to return evacuated residents to their homes.
Israel has been ramping up preparations for a war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, taking on the Iran-backed militant group to improve security in its northern region.
Netanyahu frames it as an existential war for Israel and has argued that now is not the time to show weakness, defying calls for restraint and compromise, including from within his war cabinet.
The PM’s office has been putting out the message that while he is pushing for greater confrontation with Hezbollah, retired military general Gallant is against it, according to Israeli outlet Haaertz.
Michael Milshtein, a leading Palestinian studies scholar at Tel Aviv University, said that Gallant ‘doesn’t want a broad escalation’, but that Netanyahu is ‘considering’ it.
In an expansion of Israel’s official war goals on Tuesday, Netanyahu announced that his forces would now aim to halt Hezbollah’s attacks in the north to allow tens of thousands of residents to return to their homes along the border.
As news of the plans emerged, Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to the Biden administration warned Netanyahu against initiating a wider war against Lebanon, sources told Axios.
On the same day, Gallant told the United States military envoy visiting the region that ‘military action’ is the ‘only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities.’
Netanyahu’s office has been putting out the message that while he is pushing for greater confrontation with Hezbollah, retired military general Gallant is against it, according to reports
Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been clashing near-daily for more than 11 months, with the clashes killing hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel, as well as displacing tens of thousands on both sides of the border.
Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem has insisted that his group has ‘no intention of going to war’, but warned that if Israel were to ‘unleash’ one, ‘there will be large losses on both sides’.
He added that is Israel did expand its ‘aggression’, rather than enabling the roughly 100,000 displaced people to return home, it should ‘prepare to deal with hundreds of thousands more displaced’.
Tensions have since mounted even further following Tuesday’s pager blasts, with the militant group vowing to exact revenge and warning its arch-foe that it should ‘await in response to the massacre’.
The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept an attack from Lebanon over the Galilee region, near Kiryat Shmona, as seen from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024
Fawaz Gerges, Professor of International Relations at LSE, described it as ‘one of the greatest security breaches’ to ever hit Hezbollah, who he said would now be plotting its revenge.
‘I don’t think we can expect any major retaliation in the next hours or days, Hezbollah will take its time, assess the implications.
‘My take on it is that Hezbollah faces a huge strategic dilemma. Because while Hezbollah feels bound to retaliate, it does not really want to trigger all-out war.’
But, he said, Israel is more prepared to expand the conflict. ‘This is the first shot in Israel’s all-out war against Hezbollah,’ he said.
Police officers inspect a car inside of which a hand-held pager exploded, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024
The remnants of what is believed to be a pager carried by a Lebanese militant that detonated earlier today
‘Israel has really been provoking Hezbollah, has been pushing Hezbollah, and this attack is really not just a psychological attack, this is a major, catastrophic security attack on Hezbollah.
He added that he doubted that Hezbollah would target any civilians in Israel, despite the rising rhetoric.
‘The strategic overarching aim of Hezbollah is to avoid all-out war, because both Iran and Hezbollah believe that Israel is trying to drive them to all-out war, not only against Israel but against its western allies who have an extraordinary armada.’
Meanwhile the US and Britain have called for de-escalation in the tinder box region.
‘We continue to monitor the situation in Lebanon closely and the UK is working with diplomatic and humanitarian partners in the region,’ the foreign office said in a statement.
‘The civilian casualties following these explosions are deeply distressing. We urge calm heads and de-escalation at this critical time.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk