This picture shows smoke rising from a Lebanese village after it was bombed by Israel, near Israel's northern border with Lebanon, Wednesday, December 27, 2023. Ayal Margolin Xinhua/Sipa USA TEL AVIV, Israel
Israeli officials have stepped up threats against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, warning that Israel is losing patience as both sides continue to fire shots along the country's volatile border with Lebanon.
Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's War Cabinet, warned on Wednesday that if the international community and the Lebanese government do not stop Hezbollah, Israel will do so. Israeli military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the military was at peak readiness and had approved plans in case it decided to open a second front in the north.
The clashes on Israel's northern border began after Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.
Although it was a less intense battle than in Gaza, the simultaneous fighting on both sides of the border has caused destruction, displacement and deaths and raised fears that a larger war could break out in the region.
This is a look at the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah:
What does the fight consist of?
Hezbollah fighters have attacked Israeli posts and towns along the border, and the group has fired rockets and drones at Israeli targets. Israeli tanks, artillery and aircraft have attacked areas on the Lebanese side of the border. The fighting was usually short-lived, but occurs almost daily.
According to the Israeli military, more than 1,700 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, killing 15 Israelis, including nine soldiers, and wounding more than 150 people.
Israel has evacuated around 60,000 people from more than 40 communities in the north of the country, including the major city of Kiryat Shmona with 22,000 residents. Israeli media has broadcast images of destroyed homes and destroyed communities, with Israeli soldiers guarding empty streets.
According to the International Organization for Migration, around 74,500 people on the Lebanese side have been displaced due to the fighting.
Israeli airstrikes and shelling have killed nearly 160 people in Lebanon, according to a count kept by The Associated Press. Most of these people were fighters from Hezbollah and allied groups, but at least 19 civilians also lost their lives, including journalists and children.
Human rights groups and local officials have also accused Israel of hitting areas along the Lebanese border with projectiles containing phosphorus, a controversial incendiary munition. The attacks burned hundreds of acres of farmland and forests and injured civilians. Israel noted that all its actions are in accordance with international law.
WHY ARE THEY FIGHTING?
Israel and Hezbollah – which is backed by Iran – have long been bitter enemies, dating back to Israel's occupation of parts of southern Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.
After Hezbollah militants ambushed an Israeli patrol and took two Israeli soldiers hostage in 2006, the two sides fought a merciless, months-long war that ended in a stalemate after Israeli bombings left widespread destruction in southern Lebanon and parts of Beirut.
The border area had remained largely quiet since that war, apart from isolated skirmishes and sporadic tensions. Israel estimates that Hezbollah has about 150,000 rockets and missiles in its arsenal, many of which can hit virtually anywhere in Israel, including the economic capital Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah, for its part, says the aim of its attacks is to ease pressure on the Gaza Strip, where Israel is carrying out an unprecedented land, air and sea offensive aimed at destroying Hamas and rescuing some 129 people trapped in the territory.
THE RELATIONSHIP WITH IRAN
Although no evidence has been released that Iran – Israel's arch-enemy – ordered the October 7 attack, its footprints were visible throughout the conflict that followed.
In addition to Iran's support for Hamas and Hezbollah, other Iranian-backed groups in Yemen, Syria and Iraq have also carried out attacks against Israel and its allies to show their support for Hamas.
In the Red Sea, attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on ships they believe are linked to Israel have disrupted trade and prompted the launch of a U.S.-led multinational naval operation to protect shipping lanes.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq have also carried out dozens of attacks on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria in what they say was retaliation for Washington's support for Israel.
And on Monday, Iranian state media blamed Israel for an attack on a neighborhood in Damascus that killed a top Iranian general.
Amos Harel, a military commentator for Haaretz newspaper, wrote on Wednesday that the general's killing was a message to Iran that it could no longer enjoy immunity while its proxies attack Israel.
“It also brings us closer to the possibility of increasing intensification against Hezbollah and even against the Iranians on the northern front,” he wrote.
What role does Hezbollah play?
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah faces a risky balancing act in his position.
Joining Hamas would risk plunging Lebanon – beset by economic disaster and domestic political tensions – into a conflict it cannot afford, stoking internal opposition to the group. The World Bank has already said the fighting could harm the Lebanese economy.
Lebanon is in its fourth year of a crippling economic crisis and is bitterly divided between Hezbollah and its allies and opponents, which has paralyzed the political system.
However, standing completely aside while Israeli forces attack Gaza could jeopardize Hezbollah's credibility, and a Hamas defeat would be a blow to Iran.
Hezbollah has been careful to limit its attacks on Israel while keeping open the threat of an expansion of the war.
“If Israel goes too far, we will hit back twice as hard,” Hezbollah’s deputy, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said on Thursday. “We will not be afraid of Israeli or American threats or intimidation.”
A NEW FRONT FOR ISRAEL?
While its soldiers are stationed in the Gaza Strip, Israel has sought to limit its fighting in the north. Hezbollah's military capabilities are far superior to those of Hamas.
Still, Israeli officials are increasingly warning that the country is prepared to escalate the conflict and that Hezbollah should be prepared to pay a price for the damage it has caused over the past three months.
Israel has already bolstered its forces in the north and could target Hezbollah once it reduces or ends the war in Gaza.
Israel's main ally, the United States, which has sent military reinforcements to the region, says it prefers a negotiated settlement to rising tensions over a second front-line war.
Israel also wants Hezbollah to abide by a 2006 U.N. ceasefire agreement that says the southern Lebanese border area must be “free of all armed personnel, assets and weapons” other than Lebanese government troops and United Nations peacekeepers. According to the resolution, Hezbollah should not have a military presence in the border region.
Lebanon, for its part, claims that Israel is violating the resolution because its air force frequently intrudes into Lebanese airspace and is present in the Shebaa Farms, a disputed area along the country's border with the Golan Heights, areas Israel seized from Syria in 1967.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Wednesday that Hezbollah must respect the 2006 ceasefire. Otherwise, he warned, Nasrallah must “understand that he is next.”
Sewell reported in Beirut. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.