Patricia Karam, Nimrod Goren, Charles Lister & Brian Katulis
With the lack of headway on the Gaza front, Israel has turned its attention to Lebanon and effectively launched what looks like the third Israel-Lebanon war. On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officially dubbed their campaign “Operation Northern Arrows,” with the declared objective of creating the conditions conducive to the return of displaced citizens to northern Israel. Having broken all previous unofficial rules of engagement that guided Israel’s cross-border conflict with Hezbollah, the Israeli government now seems to have made the decision, with the implicit support of the United States, to wholly destroy the Tehran-backed Lebanese militant group.
Last week, Israel initiated covert operations against Hezbollah members by detonating successive beeper and two-way radio explosions that incapacitated thousands of Hezbollah personnel. It thereafter launched targeted strikes that sought to decapitate Hezbollah’s top command-and-control structure, including the commander of the elite Radwan Force. Israel has since expanded its airstrikes and is in the process of a relentless bombardment to destroy Hezbollah’s infrastructure, targeting storage depots, buildings, and weapons caches. The IDF has struck some 1,300 targets to date, which has killed at least 550, wounded over 1,800, and already displaced thousands, sowing panic and widespread fears that, like Gaza, Lebanon will be reduced to rubble. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has launched rockets and drones deep inside Israel and reiterated its pledge that it will not stop until a truce is reached in Gaza, even though such an outcome looks less likely by the day.
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