The war between Hamas and IsraelDossierThe Israeli defense minister went on Saturday, October 21, to the border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have become increasingly frequent in recent days, fueling fears of a regional conflagration.
Two weeks after the brutal Hamas attack and although the Israeli army’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip has not yet begun, Israel is not neglecting its northern front, even if tensions are very high. On Saturday morning, October 21, Defense Minister Yoav Galant visited the soldiers of the 91st Division responsible for protecting the border with Lebanon, a country that is effectively at war with the Jewish state.
As the international community fears a spillover of the conflict between the pro-Iranian Lebanese Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, and the Israeli army, exchanges of small arms and artillery fire have continued this week along the blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon for about 20 years Kilometers separate, multiplied by 80 kilometers. The Israeli army reported “twenty rocket attacks” on Friday and at least one rocket attack on its territory that killed a 22-year-old reservist. The IDF responded overnight against Hezbollah targets and announced on Saturday that two Thai workers had been injured in a new rocket attack by the Islamist organization.
New very active front
“Hezbollah has decided to join the fight and is paying the price. We must remain vigilant and prepare for all scenarios. “Great challenges await us,” Galant told the soldiers during his visit on Saturday morning, reminding them of their “duty” to “defend” the country. “We will remember the day of the attack [du 7 octobre] as the day when the final and complete destruction of this Hamas terrorist organization began,” he also stressed.
In addition to the soldiers and officers stationed in the region, Yoav Gallant also met mayors and political leaders from the north of the country during his visit. In an extremely rare move, the Jewish state authorities announced on Friday the complete evacuation of the town of Kiryat Shmona, which borders the Lebanese border and has around 25,000 residents. Given the intensification of the conflict, the majority of the population had already made the decision to leave the country. Just like many Lebanese on the other side of the border.
In a lengthy article published on Friday evening, The New York Times revealed that the strategy against Hezbollah had been the subject of intense discussion over the past ten days within the Israeli government, as well as with the American government, which was concerned about opening one new, very active front in northern Israel. At the heart of American “fears,” according to the daily, is the desire of some of the most aggressive members of Israel’s War Council, including Yoav Galant, to quickly launch a preemptive offensive against the movement after the October 7 attack. Lebanese Shiite.
Intense negotiations
“President Biden and his top aides urged Israeli leaders not to carry out major attacks against Hezbollah,” writes the New York Times, citing both American and Israeli sources. The issue would have been discussed in particular during Joe Biden’s visit to Israel on Wednesday and during the intensive negotiations led by American Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier in the week.
According to the newspaper, the Biden administration “believes that Israel would have difficulty fighting a two-front war and that such a conflict could affect both the United States and Iran,” Hezbollah’s main backer. An opinion shared by many experts in the region. “Hezbollah is militarily much more effective than Hamas and has many more rockets. An explosion of violence on Israel’s northern border would likely lead to a conflagration,” researcher Ray Takeyh, Middle East specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, predicted Oct. 8.
The United States, which has deployed two aircraft carriers in the eastern Mediterranean – including the USS Ford, the world’s largest warship – to deter Iran and Hezbollah from interfering in the conflict, is not the only one worried about regional expansion of the conflict. “There is a situation of tension that is in any case extremely worrying and represents a great risk for the entire region,” the French president told several journalists on Friday, ensuring that Paris was also mobilizing behind the scenes to call for moderation. “We have been sending very direct messages to Hezbollah through our ambassador and our services. We have also forwarded them to the Lebanese authorities,” said Emmanuel Macron.