Israel responded on Friday, April 7, to the most serious attack against its territory since the war between the Jewish state and Lebanese Hezbollah in 2006. Its air force struck the same enemy on two fronts during the night: it targeted positions of Palestinian militants based in southern Lebanon, near the Rashidiye refugee camp, and rocket production and development sites, as well as Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
The army attributes the salvo of thirty-four rockets fired in the afternoon of Thursday at its northern border, and which has not been claimed, to Palestinian factions led by Hamas. Most were intercepted by anti-aircraft defense. The six who thwarted it caused minor injuries and property damage. The shootings took place on the first day of Passover, when vacationing families hike in the Galilee, near the northern border. They do not appear to have targeted civilian infrastructure or military sites.
The army sees there the direct consequences of two nights of brutal Israeli police action on the esplanade of the Mosques, in Jerusalem, in the middle of Ramadan. Since the 2021 war, Hamas has imposed a new balance of power on the Jewish state. He seeks to distinguish himself as the first defender of Al-Aqsa, by demonstrating that a significant Israeli crackdown on holy sites would systematically trigger firing from Gaza. On Thursday, the Islamic Resistance Movement appears to have extended this logic to Israel’s northern border for the first time, involving its ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Yet the Israeli government chose not to direct its response against Hezbollah. He does not want an escalation – even though the army has little doubt that these shots could not have been carried out from Lebanon without the armed Shiite movement being informed. Thursday morning, before the shootings, Hezbollah had expressed its solidarity “with the Palestinian people and the resistance movements” to Israel. In a statement, he pledged to “support them in all the measures they take to protect the faithful and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and to deter the enemy from continuing its aggressions”.
“An indirect message from Hezbollah”
On Friday, the Israeli army wanted to close this exchange of fire. But she feared possible demonstrations in Jerusalem, on this third Friday of great prayers of Ramadan. “Nobody wants an escalation now. We had to answer [aux tirs du Liban]. In the next few hours, we will respond to calm with calm”said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an army spokesman. “Our enemies are trying to connect all fronts (…), but neither wants the crisis to unfold at home: Hamas tries to keep calm in Gaza, and Hezbollah lets Palestinians attack [de son territoire] », judges the former head of Israeli military intelligence, Amos Yadlin.
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