In 2006, after a series of cross-border raids by Hezbollah into Israel and the capture and killing of Israeli soldiers taken as hostages, very much like what is happening now in Gaza following the October 7 attack by Hamas, Israel launched a full scale war against Hezbollah and effectively, the whole of Lebanon.
That war set Lebanon back by 50 years as much of their infrastructure was turned into rubble.
A bomb dropping from the sky does not know who is Hezbollah and who is an innocent Lebanese just trying to earn his daily bread.
Therein lies the dilemma for Israel.
It speaks to the nature of humans not to blame the aggressors who carry out their evil in one night but to blame the responders who retaliate over a period of time.
The Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has been in Israeli crosshairs since 1992. He seems to have survived thus far. It is yet to be seen how much longer he will last with an extreme right wing hawk such as Netanyahu in power.
It is interesting to note that even though Hezbollah is Shiite in origin, and therefore linked to Iran, Hamas is Sunni and receives funding from Saudi Arabia. Despite their religious differences, they are united in the ideology of the total destruction of Israel.
That plays to the parable: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
With the recent assassination of a high ranking Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr in Lebanon, and the simultaneous killing of the Hamas political leader, Ismail Hanniyeh in Iran, the drums of war are beating loudly. Nasrallah was recently asked if Hezbollah would attack Israel.
His reply was chilling—he twitted in Hebrew: “maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow, perhaps next week.”
This is part of a psychological warfare playing out in the region. With Iran also planning an attack of its own, the question is: can Israel sustain and survive a war on three fronts?
John James.
Correspondent,
Egogonewshub.com
