In one of the largest barrages yet, Hezbollah launched 200 rockets and mortars and more than 20 drones from Lebanon into northern Israel July 4, killing one Israeli soldier in the Golan Heights and setting fires as far away as Acre, near Haifa. Hezbollah said the barrage was retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed the commander of one of Hezbollah’s three divisions in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah is the largest and best-armed part of Iran’s “axis of resistance.” It aims to advance the Iranian rulers’ expansionist aims across the Middle East. It is a key part of Tehran’s long-term goal of destroying Israel and driving Jews from the region.
Hezbollah began an almost daily assault on northern Israel Oct. 8, at the start of Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza to dismantle Hamas and prevent the Jew-hating group from carrying out another pogrom. Hamas, backed by Tehran, murdered 1,200 people in Israel Oct. 7, mostly civilians, wounded thousands, took more than 250 hostages and raped dozens of women.
Hezbollah is far better armed than Hamas, including with more advanced, precision-guided missiles.
So far, Hezbollah and Tehran have sought to avoid a full-scale war with Israel, seeking instead to press it to agree to a long-term cease-fire, which would allow Hamas to survive and regroup. But even Hezbollah’s limited assaults have forced some 60,000 Israelis to evacuate their homes near the northern border. Some 90,000 civilians in Lebanon have also evacuated.
At least 400 Hezbollah and allied combatants have been killed over the last nine months along with 95 civilians, as well as 15 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians.
Israeli officials are demanding Hezbollah pull its forces back 18 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border, the terms of a 2006 cease-fire agreement that allowed only official Lebanese army government units to be in the zone.
The U.S. government presents itself as a neutral arbiter as it pushes its own imperialist economic and political interests throughout the region. In late June, Gen. C.Q. Brown, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that while U.S. forces helped shoot down Iranian missiles speeding toward Israel April 13, Washington won’t do the same if there is a major war with Hezbollah.
Acting as if both sides were equally responsible, White House envoy Amos Hochstein called for “urgent” de-escalation during a visit to Israel and Lebanon in mid-June.
The Israeli government is not counting on Washington convincing Hezbollah to “de-escalate.” Hospitals are increasing blood supplies and preparing to move key units underground.