Israeli military chief Lt Gen Herzi Halevi has ordered soldiers to prepare for a possible ground assault on Hezbollah in Lebanon. It is the sharpest escalation yet in the region. Amid Israeli airstrikes that continue to pound Hezbollah positions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again confirmed that his forces would continue military operations until it became safe for northern residents to return home.
Hezbollah fired a ballistic missile aimed at Israel’s Mossad spy agency near Tel Aviv in the most significant cross-border attack since nearly a year ago. Israel retaliated by carrying out its biggest wave of airstrikes across Lebanon, targeting 60 Hezbollah intelligence sites and hundreds of other sites throughout the country. According to the Lebanese army, Israeli strikes have killed 51 people and injured 223 while attacking even areas outside the Hezbollah group’s strongholds.
US President Joe Biden expressed concern that an escalation of Middle East conflict may easily turn “into all-out war,” but warned both sides that there should be no further escalation. Biden said a possibility of a ceasefire does exist, but his enthusiasm is tempered, saying nobody wants a full-scale war. “For a long time, the United States has been closely involved and has advocated for diplomatic solutions to avoid further escalation.
Civilians of both nations face heightened violence in the conflict. Over 90,000 have been displaced in Lebanon alone, and Nour Hamad, a student in Baalbek, described life in a “state of terror.” For their part, Israel’s Tel Aviv residents suffered through missile alarms, echoing the increasing threat level across the border.
Hezbollah confirmed that one of its commanders, Ibrahim Kobeissi was killed during an Israeli attack on Beirut. Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei remains defiant, pledging that nothing would deter Hezbollah from the battle with Israel.
International peace efforts remain fragile as the conflict escalates. The UN Security Council has gone to an emergency session and the UN Chief, Antonio Guterres warned that Lebanon was balancing on the edge of calamity. Analysts opine that the conflict in Lebanon finds its roots in the Gaza war in which the discussions over the ceasefire have yielded almost negligible results. Pressurised by far-right members of the coalition, Netanyahu is blamed for delaying the resumption of ceasefire discussions in Gaza that could arrest the de-escalation processes of peace in Lebanon.
The situation thus remains precarious, and the possibility of a more widespread regional conflagration looms large as the diplomatic efforts to undo the tensions fail to take shape.