Israel ‘salting Hezbollah’s wounds'
Israel released a statement that can only be described as salting Hezbollah’s wounds. This is nearly 24 hours since carrying out their latest assassination attack against Hezbollah in Beirut. They made public specifics about the operation on their social media. The Israeli army says it used precise strikes – that the Israeli jets were guided by the Intelligence Directorate.
The breadth and length, the specific names provided here, the structure of the command and control of the Radwan Force that they targeted – all of these details really do illustrate that Israel is sending out a very clear signal – it has a strong intelligence apparatus, not just in Israel but on the ground; it has that human intelligence asset readily available.
What they are trying to do – emboldened by the attacks they carried out – and they want to use overwhelming force and carry out episodic attacks against multiple fronts to try to force groups like Hezbollah and Hamas to make a tactical retreat, to come to the table, and to accept terms at the end of a very big stake.
Thus sticking to the same strategy that hasn't worked for the past 76 years. Problem is, with today's social media, claiming to be the victim when Hamas or Hezbollah strikes back doesn't work anymore. Well it still does in the Western Media, yet the UN, ICJ, ICC, WHO, and so on, are not fooled anymore.
This tactic hasn't worked to force Hamas to accept a temporary ceasefire deal for prisoner exchange, what does Israel hope to achieve against Hezbollah.
All-out war between Israel and Lebanon would ‘solve nothing’
An all-out war between Israel and Lebanon would “end in bloodbath” and “solve nothing”, Gideon Levy, an Israeli columnist at newspaper Haaretz, has told Al Jazeera.
Commenting on the Israeli army’s intensifying cross-border raids on southern Lebanon, Levy said it remains to be seen whether this is “the prelude for a ground operation, or if it is aimed at putting pressure on Hezbollah”.
“If [Israel] is going for an all-out war against Hezbollah, it is going to regret it, and I say it as an Israeli. It will solve nothing,” he said.
“The Israeli rhetoric speaks about an all-out war and a regional war,” he said, adding that this would result in “failure” to defeat Hezbollah, a much better-equipped group than Hamas in Gaza.
Israel says 180 targets ‘dismantled’ in southern Lebanon
The Israeli army says it “dismantled approximately 180 targets and thousands of launcher barrels” in southern Lebanon in the past hours, amid reports of the heaviest crossfire since Israel and Hezbollah began confrontations on October 8 last year.
Additionally, it said “approximately 90 projectile launches were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory”.
“The [Israeli military] will continue operating to dismantle and degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities and terror infrastructure,” it added in a statement.
Four injured in Lebanon following Israeli attacks: Report
An Israeli air raid on Qatrani Heights in southern Lebanon seriously wounded one person, the National News Agency reports.
More Israeli attacks targeted the western Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold, causing minor injuries to three others who are currently receiving treatment at a hospital, it added.
Hezbollah fired 140 rockets into northern Israel saying it targeted military sites in retaliation for intensifying bombardment. There was no immediate report of casualties.
