Hussain Abdul-Hussain
After some optimism that lasted less than 24 hours, Hezbollah and Israel seem as far from a ceasefire as ever, which begs the question: How else will the war end?
Earlier in the week, the Israeli army had declared its mission accomplished and removed protective barriers it had set up against Hezbollah’s Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) in Israel’s northernmost towns, near the Lebanese border.
The moves signaled Israel’s confidence that its campaign to neutralize the Iran-backed militia’s threat was going as planned. Yet Hezbollah’s high-trajectory fire continued. Israel, in effect, has been fighting two wars against the Iran-backed Lebanese militia.
The first war, now seemingly over, was particular to Israeli communities that live within of 5,500 meters (3.4 miles) from the border, the range of Hezbollah’s hand-held ATGMs. The border itself posed another threat.
After Hamas burst out of the Gaza Strip and massacred 1,200 Israelis, on October 7, 2023, Israelis lost faith in security fences like the one that separated them from Lebanon.
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