What do you think of Israels objectives in the tension between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon ?
Underlying Israel's justifications for its lethal escalation in Lebanon are strategic interests.
The war of attrition that Hezbollah has inflicted over the past 11 months has drained Israel on military, economic, and psychological levels.
Experts from Israel, America, and the West have consistently emphasized this issue since the Lebanese Shia party opened the Lebanese-Israeli front on 8 October 2023.
In recent weeks, Israel has successfully altered the balance of power through a series of operations that culminated on 27 September with the killing of the party's Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, along with an unspecified number of political and military figures.
The significant escalation commenced by Israel on 17 and 18 September involved the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies, resulting in injuries to thousands of Lebanese civilians.On 20 September, an Israeli airstrike in the southern suburbs of Beirut resulted in the death of Hezbollah's military chief and the majority of the elite al-Radwan force's leadership.
Israel indicated its intention to escalate as early as 30 July by assassinating Fuad Shukr, the chief military commander of Hezbollah, in a hit within the core of the organization's stronghold.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have explicitly stated two objectives for this quantitative and qualitative escalation: severing the Lebanese front from the war in Gaza and displacing Hezbollah from the border to facilitate the return of tens of thousands of Israeli settlers evacuated from their colonies.
Political sources in Beirut, however, refer to "hidden objectives'' that Israeli authorities have not disclosed openly.
A source affiliated with the Lebanese government stated:
"Hassan Nasrallah had given the green light to Lebanese negotiator, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, through his ally Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, to discuss a potential withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters a few kilometres from the border as part of a comprehensive agreement regarding the implementation of UN Resolution 1701 and a provisional ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza."
"The French presented their proposal based on this information, but Netanyahu deceived them by pretending to be interested while secretly preparing Nasrallah's assassination."
The genuine aim of the Israelis goes beyond their stated goals. They aim to capitalize on the present situation to irrevocably alter the regional power dynamics and reestablish Israel's dominance over its adversaries for years, if not decades, ahead.
Walid Charara, an international affairs columnist for the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, asserted:
"The main goal is part of a more strategic Israeli-American plan aimed at dismantling or degrading Hezbollah's military capabilities, particularly its ballistic and drone arsenals."
"Regardless of Hezbollah's involvement in the Gaza conflict, weakening this arsenal is a strategic priority as it represents an increasingly severe challenge for Israel and the American order in the region."
Charara referenced a column by pro-Israel New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, published in November 2020 after President Joe Biden's election, entitled "Dear Joe, It's Not About Iran's Nukes Anymore." Friedman cautioned that the ballistic and drone capabilities of Iran, Hezbollah, and Israel's adversaries, in general, posed significant challenges for both Israel and the Pentagon.
To accomplish its objective of destroying its capabilities, Israel "has launched a war, sowing widespread death and destruction with the aim of structurally weakening Hezbollah", he stated.
Notwithstanding the decapitation of its political and military leadership and several Israeli airstrikes, Hezbollah has not surrendered. Its military units continue to launch daily volleys of rockets into Israel; its media channels remain functional; and its social institutions continue to operate on the ground.
"This war will end in failure for Israel. So far, Israeli society, ethnically stratified and politically and economically dominated by Ashkenazi elites, has supported the belligerent policies of its leaders. But when they realise that the long-term cost—both economic and human—is exorbitant, they will turn against the war, forcing the Israeli government to reconsider its position and backtrack."