Beirut- Israel’s targeting of a civilian house in Bint Jbeil – last Tuesday night – constituted a dangerous and eloquent message received by Hezbollah and the people of southern Lebanon, not only because the raid resulted in the martyrdom of 3 Lebanese; Rather, because the bombing deep inside this city for the first time since the eighth of last October revived in the minds of many the historical symbolism of “Bint Jbeil” in the Lebanese-Israeli conflict.
From its stadium, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech liberating the south from occupation in 2000, saying his famous phrase, “Israel is more insignificant than a spider’s web,” making it the only city that Israel completely destroyed in the July 2006 war, after the attempt to occupy it failed.
A solemn funeral
Hundreds of people in Bint Jbeil mourned the martyrs who were wrapped in the party’s flags, as they come from a family known for its loyalty to the resistance. They are the two brothers: Ali Bazzi (37 years old) and Ibrahim (26 years old), and Shorouk Hammoud, Ibrahim’s wife. The latter came from Australia a few days ago to spend the end of the year. year with his family, and then travel there with his wife.
While Lebanon was filled with the story of the martyrs and their pictures filled social media platforms, Hezbollah mourned Ali Bazzi for being its “jihadi,” at a time when the people of the city were experiencing the shock of this targeting, which completely destroyed the house above Ibrahim and Shorouk, who were sleeping on the upper floor.
Ali was with his father and a friend downstairs, according to a statement by writer and political analyst Wassim Bazzi – to Tel Aviv Tribune Net – who is related to the family of the martyrs.
With this targeting, the death toll in southern Lebanon rose to more than 25 martyrs, noting that the rules of engagement in force between Hezbollah and Israel are based on the principle of mutual military strikes, which makes striking civilians a major transgression of the red lines that Hassan Nasrallah previously spoke about.
In response, Hezbollah – yesterday, Wednesday – targeted the Kiryat Shmona settlement with 30 missiles, and its officials said that every crime against civilians in Lebanon “will not pass without the enemy paying the price.”
The party also targeted a new leadership position in the vicinity of the naval site in Naqoura, and the sites of Al-Dhahira, Hadab Al-Bustan, Khirbet Maar, and others, and launched an attack with assault drones and missile weapons on Israeli gatherings in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms.
In practice, observers note that Israel is intensifying its targeting of homes in border villages, and they are often homes belonging to or linked to leaders or officials of the resistance, as happened last month, when it targeted a house that led to the martyrdom of the son of Hezbollah MP Muhammad Raad, along with 3 others.
Incremental indicator
Wassim Bazzi says that about a week ago, Israel adopted new rules of engagement and engagement in the field of the so-called “front villages.” But the major development was recorded by the first attack of its kind on “Bint Jbeil,” “after this city was far from operations, because within the equation of war it means an escalation indicator, as Safad corresponds to it in the Galilee.”
Waseem points out – to Tel Aviv Tribune Net – that “Bint Jbeil” has maintained its reassurance as the capital of the region, recalling its historical symbolism – which is only about 3 kilometers from the border with Israel – when the commander of the northern region, Udi Adam, said in the July 2006 war, and after he was unable to implement the plan Occupying it, Israel destroyed it with revenge against stone and memory.
He added, “In the July War, Israel called it the ‘Cursed City’, due to the size of the ambushes and strikes they were subjected to on its hills, the most famous of which was the battle of Karm al-Zaytoun in the Tahrir Triangle, the ambush at Masoud Hill, and another ambush near Mahaneya Bint Jbeil, which had a decisive result in Israel’s defeat.” It formed a psychological and military complex for her.”
Therefore, Waseem finds that targeting “Bint Jbeil” has taken a dangerous escalatory turn, especially after he shunned it from strikes on the basis that it cuts beyond the border edge, and in front of it are the villages of Yaroun and Aitaroun.
For his part, writer and political analyst Asaad Bishara believes that targeting civilians means that Israel, at its own time, has entered the stage of seeking to lure Hezbollah into initiating a war in Lebanon.
Yesterday, a member of the Israeli government’s war council, Benny Gantz, said, “The time for a diplomatic solution is running out, and if the world and Lebanon do not move to prevent the shooting of the residents of northern Israel and remove Hezbollah from the border, the Israeli army will do so.”
Based on his words, Asaad says – to Tel Aviv Tribune Net – that what Israeli officials announce regarding the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, through pressure for Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the south of the Litani, whether by peace or war, means that they are ready to ignite war in the event that it is impossible to achieve this currently.
This goes back to what American newspapers reported about Washington preventing Israel at the beginning of the aggression against the Gaza Strip from launching a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, as an indication of an implicit decision by Tel Aviv that waging a war on Lebanon is only a matter of time.
He added, “Targeting civilians reflects intentions to lure into a major war, knowing that the timing now is not appropriate for Israel.”
Asaad believes that the pace of displacement from the Lebanese border villages is likely to increase, while Wassim points out that a large percentage of its people have left their homes and rented homes in the southern depths, or in Sidon, Beirut, and elsewhere.
Escalation scenarios
Although Hezbollah continues its military operations at an intense pace, many are wondering about escalation scenarios, as Asaad believes that the blockage of political and diplomatic solutions, and the faltering of negotiations efforts to spare Lebanon from war, will lead to a major decline in the front.
He says, “Hezbollah may be forced to strike civilian settlement residents if Israel continues to strike Lebanese civilians, which means more reactions, in which Israel will deteriorate further.”
It is also likely that Washington and Paris will continue their efforts to control tension in the south, market their perception, and prevent the outbreak of war. Due to the risk of its expansion into a regional war, which Iran also does not want.
Yesterday, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen sent a letter to the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, saying, “Nasrallah must understand that he is next, and he must implement Resolution 1701, and Hezbollah must withdraw to the north of the Litani. We will work to exhaust the diplomatic option, and if “It did not work, so all options are on the table.”
He added, “Hezbollah, which serves the terrorist government in Iran, exposes Lebanon and the entire region to danger.”
Wassim Bazzi considers that Israel’s tampering with the rules of engagement with Hezbollah has become clear, and “it is as if the front is rolling according to standards that contain a lot of absurdity and chaos,” but he finds that the party continues to send its messages, the most prominent of which was the strike it directed while a delegation was with Cohen on the northern border yesterday. .
However, in his opinion, indicators in the region portend pessimism, from the Houthi strikes and the confrontation with Bab al-Mandab, to the assassination of an Iranian official in Syria, and America’s bombing of Hezbollah bases in Iraq, not to mention Israel’s continuation of its war of extermination in Gaza.
He concludes by saying that Hezbollah “may continue disciplined behavior, but this needs constant evaluation due to Israel’s difficulty in maintaining expanded rules of engagement.”