The approximately 4,000 rockets that were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel within nine days could only have been a foretaste of an even bigger attack. An estimated 150,000 rockets are stationed in Lebanon, many of which are not only heavier but also more precise than the cheap missiles used by the radical Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The first rockets were detonated in Lebanon on Tuesday night. The six floors, however, all fell on Lebanese soil. Presumably a Palestinian group is behind the attack.
Radicals join forces
But the radical Islamic Hezbollah is also positioning itself in Lebanon. On Monday, their number two, Naim Kassim (68), met with representatives of the radical Palestinian organization Hamas and its allied Islamic Jihad.
The Shiite terrorist organization is closely allied with Israel’s archenemy Iran and is supported by it. With its around 25,000-strong militia, it controls, among other things, the south of Lebanon and thus the border with Israel, where tensions keep coming. The last time there was a war between Hezbollah and Israel was in 2006.
«Tel Aviv, we are coming!»
With every missile that Israel fires into Gaza in retaliation, Hezbollah anger grows. On Monday, she had her supporters march in Dahieh, her stronghold in the south of the capital Beirut. “We are in the same battle with our brothers in Palestine and on the same front, your fight is our fight,” said the high-ranking Hezbollah leader Hashim Safi al-Din (57). And the supporters shouted threateningly: “Tel Aviv, we are coming!”
But there are two reasons that are preventing Hezbollah from a two-front war against Israel for the time being. It must take Iran’s interests into account. Because Tehran is currently concerned about returning to the 2015 nuclear deal in order to have the sanctions lifted.
In addition, nine months after the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut, Lebanon is still in a deep political and economic crisis.
Netanyahu doesn’t rule anything out
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (71) said on Wednesday that there are only two options in the fight against Hamas: “You can either conquer it – that is always an option – or you can deter it.” At the moment there is a strong deterrent, “but I have to say, we are not excluding anything”.
If Netanyahu opted for a conquest, Hezbollah could no longer be held. A war on two fronts would definitely explode the powder keg.