On the heels of explosions of Hizbullah equipment, Israel launched an assault on southern Lebanon last Thursday, asserting within the same timespan that it had managed to foil an assassination plan backed by Iran. The recent spate of intricate assaults on telecommunications gear utilized by the Iran-supported, armed faction Hizbullah has caused upheaval in Lebanon. Increasingly, these events are viewed as foreshadowing a potential full-scale war, an event not experienced since 18 years prior.
Handheld communication devices belonging to Hizbullah were triggered across southern Lebanon on the preceding Wednesday. This marked the bloodiest day within the country since the on-set of hostilities across the border instigated by militants and Israel in conjunction with the Gaza conflict almost a year prior. The series of devastating events, which claimed the lives of at least 20 people and injured hundreds, serves as a stark reminder of the situation’s gravity.
Furthermore, a multitude of pagers – a strategy employed by Hizbullah members in an attempt to bypass mobile phone tracking – were activated simultaneously on the previous day, taking the lives of 12 people including young children, and physically affecting approximately 3,000.
While no direct statement regarding the assaults has been officially attributed to Israel, numerous security-led origins attribute the actions, at least in part, to Mossad, the Israeli spy agency. Israel contends that its clashes with Hizbullah, along with its conflict with Hamas in Gaza, are fragments of a broader regional dispute with Iran. The country sponsors both groups along with armed factions in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
Israel’s security forces announced last Thursday that an Israeli businessman was detained the prior month due to attending a minimum of two conferences in Iran. These meetings centered around a potential plot to assassinate high-ranking Israeli figures, such as Binyamin Netanyahu, the current prime minister, the defence minister, or the leader of the Shin Bet intelligence agency. Accusations have previously been leveled against Israel regarding assassinations. These include the incidents in Tehran and a suburb of Beirut that resulted in the deaths of the Hamas leader and a high-ranking Hizbullah officer within the same day in July.
The spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in Southern Lebanon has noted that the recent escalations have not significantly altered the situation at the frontier in regard to the exchange of firepower between the opposing parties.
Andrea Tenent, the spokesman, reported continuing conflicts, maintaining their intensity from the previous week with an ongoing exchange of shots that remain a cause for concern due to escalating tensions. Israel and the militant group, Hizbullah, are caught in a cycle of violence along the Israeli-Lebanon border, simultaneous to the battles Israel is engaged in with Hamas, a Palestinian militant faction that mounted an attack on Israel on the 7th of October.
The escalating violence has necessitated the displacement of tens of thousands from both sides of the Israeli-Lebanon border. In response, Mr Netanyahu, on Wednesday, pledged to facilitate the safe return of evacuees back to their abodes in Israel.
The Israeli military confirmed several strikes by its aircraft and artillery on diverse locations in Lebanon’s southern regions during the course of the night. Hizbullah operations in southern Lebanon towns, including Chihine, Tayibe, Blida, Meiss El Jabal, Aitaroun and Kfarkela, as well as a weapons depot in the vicinity of Khiam, were among the targets specified in the air strikes.
Despite claims of Israeli citizen harm due to anti-tank missile assaults from Lebanon surfacing in the local media, no official validation has been provided. Meanwhile, Israel’s defensive artillery reportedly intercepted most of the 20 missiles that Hizbullah launched into Israel on Wednesday, causing no injuries.
The Israeli defence head, Yoav Gallant, announced a shift in the war scenario on Wednesday, signifying the redirection of increased resources and military crew to the northern frontier. The deployment reportedly includes the 98th Division, a specialised unit consisting of paratroop and commando groups actively engaged in Gaza.
Hizbullah’s missile attacks on Israel kicked off the day after the 7th October strike by Hamas. Since then, uninterrupted firing has been the state of affairs, which neither party has let escalate into a fully blown war. Nevertheless, the large-scale evacuation has increased pressure on the Israeli government to facilitate the evacuees’ return.