LOS ANGELES.–Israel warned Lebanon today that attacks by Hezbollah on the northern border threatened to escalate into full-scale war against Lebanon. Funded and armed by Iran, Hezobllah is part of Lebanon’s ruling party in the parliament, making all the more dangerous for the battered seaside country, once considered the Paris of the Mediterranean. But Lebanon has big choice either to join its Hezbollah militants and face certain destruction or pressure the Iranian-backed terror group to stop its bombardment of Israel. Hezbollah’s 63-year-old Supreme Leader Hassan Nasrallah has been threatening Israel with all-out destruction if it doesn’t stop its war with Hamas in Gaza. Israeli’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today he would begin as the Gaza operation winds down to move Israeli Defense Fores [IDF] to the north to deal with Hezbollah. Nasrallah has pushed the war to the breaking point.
Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has failed in Gaza, with Hamas near destruction, now only having Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia still intact. “We don’t want to get into a war, because it’s not good for Israel,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. “We have the ability to take Lebanon back to the Stone Age, but we don’t want to do it,” serving notice to Lebanese lawmakers that they must do better of containing Nasrallah. Nasrallah knows, whose Hezbollah party is part of the Lebanon parliament, knows that following the Ayatollah’s orders can have disastrous consequences or an already battered Beirut. Beirut’s poverty and dilapidation hasn’t recovered from the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon War. “We can plunge Lebanon completely into the dark, and take apart Hezbollah’s power in days,” said former Army Chief Benny Gantz.
Netanyahu signaled yesterday that he would “transfer some forces north” to reinforce Israel’s northern border from Nasrallah’s unrelenting bombardment. Nasrallah knows who funds his militia but also knows the possible consequences to Lebanon. Because Hezbollah is part of Lebanon’s parliament, the Israeli government holds Beirut accountable for Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel. Nasrallah threatened Israel last week with all-out war, something Nasrallah said Hezbollah has the military capability to hit every square inch of Israel. With talk like that, Netanyahu knows that Nasrallah is not bluffing, but pushing a military confrontation to the breaking point. Hundreds of civilians in Lebanon have already died since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre of 1,200 Israeli citizens, taking another 250 hostages. Netanyahu confirmed that he’s making progress in Rafah.
Netanyahu’s mission in Gaza has been condemned by the U.S. and foreign press, largely due to the humanitarian toll taken on Gaza civilians, faced with disease and famine because of deplorable conditions due to the war. Hamas’s 61-year-old Gaza Leader Yahya Sinwar, primary architect of the Oct. 7 massacre, still hides in Gaza’s military tunnels with his family and military chief Mohammed Deif. Netanyahu has been determined since Oct. 7, 2023 to end Hamas’s terrorist rule of Gaza, started Jun 15, 2007 when a military coup seized the Gaza Strip from the Ramallah-based Palestinian authority led by 84-year-old Mahmoud Abbas. Over the past 18 years, Hamas has looted and plundered the Gaza Strip of much of its donor cash, used to enrich Hamas leaders and build tunnels for the next war with Israel. Hamas has stolen billions from donor cash to enrich past Hamas leaders.
Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels take their orders from Iran’s Supreme Leader. When it comes to Lebanon, it’s a more complicated situation because Hezbollah knows that if they push Israel too far they’ll be forced to start striking Beirut. Nasrallah would like nothing more than to unload his arsenal on Israel but knows there are consequences to Beirut. Netanyahu signaled that the IDF is closer to finishing its mission in Rafah. Nothing has been said yet about the fate of Siwar or Deif or whether Israel has in fact eliminated the remaining Hamas battalions. Saying he would begin to redeploy IDF assets to northern Israel is the closest thing yet to admitting they’ve made progress eliminating Hamas. Israel and the U.S. know that Hamas must be eliminated to have any future in Gaza. Even Gaza citizens are starting to realize that Sinwar brought the misery on Gaza citizens.
Once it’s clear of the Ayatollah that Hamas has been defeated in Gaza, he’ll call off Nasrallah to stop striking northern Israel. Nasrallah know that there’s only so hard he can push in the north before Israel lowers the boom on Beiut. With Beirut’s extreme poverty there’s little room for error for Hezbollah in Lebanon. Netanyahu has defied all his critics and has Israel on the threshold of declaring victory over Hamas. Once Israel eliminates Hamas, it changes Iran’s dynamics in the region, forcing Ayatollah to pivot to other areas. Netanyahu proved there’s nothing the IDF can’t do to protect the State of Israel. When it comes to Shin Bet or Mossad, they have a lot of explaining to do why they were asleep at the switch on Oct. 7, 2023 allowing the worst massacre since the Holocaust.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma
