On Wednesday, Israel and Hezbollah exchanged attacks across the border; Israel launched two raids targeting the towns of Yater and Yaron in the Bint Jbeil district in southern Lebanon, while Hezbollah targeted the Israeli town of Metulla, which includes a military zone, with an explosive drone.
This came a day after Hezbollah bombed the Kiryat Shmona settlement, in northern Israel, with about 70 missiles. It said in a statement that the goal of the bombing was to support the Palestinian people in Gaza and to respond to the killing of a woman, her husband, and her son in an Israeli bombing of the Lebanese town of Hula.
What do we know about Kiryat Shmona?
• A settlement in northern Israel near the Lebanese border. Its name means “eight.” It was established in 1949 on the ruins of a Palestinian village after its residents were displaced and Zionist Haganah gangs took control of it.
• Its settlement by Jews began with 14 Yemeni Jews, and the population rose quickly to 4,000 people by 1951, then 22,336 people in 2021, most of whom came from Morocco.
• As a result of its location, it became a target for Palestinian factions residing in Lebanon, and then for Hezbollah missiles. Palestinian factions launched attacks on it with Katyusha rockets in 1981 and 1986, and Hezbollah bombed it with Katyushas in Operation “Grapes of Wrath” in 1996, then in 1999, and then in the 1999 war. 2006, during which the settlement turned into a place of ghosts after most of its residents left; It was bombed by 1012 missiles.
A state of war
Professor of political science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and member of the Central Committee of the Israeli Labor Party, Meir Masri, believes that Israel has been “practically at war with Hezbollah for 4 months,” which has resulted in the displacement of residents of the border areas on both sides.
Meir Masri describes to Sky News Arabia this “war” as “without a clear goal on the part of Hezbollah; it fires missiles at Israeli towns and destroys citizens’ homes out of solidarity with the Gaza Strip, in isolation from the Lebanese state, and in flagrant violation of United Nations resolutions.” Which prevents him from being on the border strip.”
Regarding Tel Aviv’s reaction, the Israeli academic and partisan says: “The question now is whether Israel will continue to exercise restraint, or will it undertake a ground intervention deep into Lebanon to secure its borders and clean the buffer zone from Iranian militia elements?”
He answers, “Israel has the ability and desire to attack Hezbollah, and only American pressure prevents it. The United States fears the outbreak of a comprehensive regional war, which it is still trying to avoid.”
As for the Syrian front, from which factions loyal to Iran also launch attacks on the Israeli-occupied Golan, Meir Masri says: “It is outside the equation for several reasons, the most important of which is the fragility of the Syrian regime and the almost complete Russian control over the land and air.”
Solo confrontation
Mordechai Kedar, professor of political science at the Israeli Bar-Ilan University, expects that the war with Hezbollah will remain within the scope of border skirmishes, and will not turn into a comprehensive war as happened in the past, citing this as:
• Hezbollah’s internal position in Lebanon is not what it was before; Christians, Sunnis, and Druze are in a state of political hostility with them, and only receive support from the Shiite component in the country.
• Hezbollah will lose the war with Israel if it enters it alone; Because Israel is capable of dealing with its enemies if they are alone, and they know that well, and after confronting Hamas, it is capable of confronting Hezbollah, and then the rest of the groups close to them.
But if the matter turns into a comprehensive war for any reason, Kedar believes that Israel is capable of confronting the party; Because its war in the Gaza Strip is almost over, and the army has withdrawn most of its forces from the Strip; Which means there are enough forces in the north to address the conflict with Hezbollah.
To avoid this escalation, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that indirect talks to stop hostilities on the border would begin during the month of Ramadan.
