appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Associated Press

Will Lebanon’s heavily armed Hezbollah militia join the Israel-Hamas war? The answer could well determine the direction of a battle that is bound to reshape the Middle East.
Hezbollah, which like Hamas is supported by Iran, has so far been on the fence about joining the fighting between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s Islamic militant rulers.
Since Saturday, Israel has besieged Gaza and hammered the enclave of 2.3 million Palestinians with hundreds of air strikes in response to a deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Israel, which has vowed to crush Hamas, is now preparing for a possible ground offensive.




While the country’s political and military leaders weigh the next move, they are nervously watching Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border and have sent troop reinforcements to the area.
Hezbollah, with an arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles capable of hitting virtually anywhere in Israel, is viewed as a far more formidable foe than Hamas.
Hamas attack: Trump calls Hezbollah ‘smart’, says Israel PM ‘not prepared’
Israel is anxious that opening a new front in the country’s north could change the tide of the war, with Hezbollah’s military calibre far superior to that of Hamas. But the fighting could be equally devastating for Hezbollah and Lebanon.
The possibility of a new front in Lebanon also brings back bitter memories of a vicious monthlong war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 that ended in a stalemate and a tense detente between the two sides.
Lebanon is in the fourth year of a crippling economic crisis and is bitterly divided between Hezbollah and its allies and opponents, paralysing the political system.
Israel is especially worried about Hezbollah’s precision-guided missiles, which are believed to be aimed at strategic targets like natural gas rigs and power stations.
Hezbollah is also battle-hardened from years of fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s troops in neighbouring Syria.
At the same time, Hamas and Hezbollah have grown closer as Hamas leaders have moved to Beirut in recent years.

While Hezbollah has largely remained on the sidelines, people close to the group say an Israeli ground offensive could be a possible trigger for it to fully enter the conflict with devastating consequences.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Thursday that the continuation of crimes against Palestinians will receive a response from “the rest of the axis” and Israel will be responsible for the consequences.
He did not specify, but the Axis of Resistance refers to an alliance among Iran, Palestinian militant groups, Syria, Hezbollah and other factions.
Israel says no break to Gaza siege unless hostages are freed
Qassim Qassir, a Lebanese analyst close to Hezbollah said the group, “will not allow Hamas’ destruction and won’t leave Gaza alone to face a ground incursion”.
“When the situation requires further escalation, then Hezbollah will do so,” he said.
An official with a Lebanese group familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Hezbollah fighters have been placed on full alert.

Hezbollah and Israel have targeted military outposts and positions in brief rocket and shelling exchanges on the border since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
Three Hezbollah fighters were killed Monday, while Israeli officials said one Israeli soldier was killed in an anti-tank missile attack two days later.
Three Israeli soldiers were killed and five were wounded in a skirmish with Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants who crossed the southern Lebanese border into Israel. Hamas also claimed responsibility for firing several rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon.
As thousands suffer in Israel-Hamas war, only one country benefits
Anthony Elghossain, a senior analyst with the Washington-based New Lines Institute, said that while neither Israel nor Hezbollah appears to want to enter “significant and sustained armed conflict”, there is a risk of escalation – even without a ground invasion of Gaza – if either side makes a miscalculation and oversteps the usual rules of engagement.
With an eye toward Hezbollah, US President Joe Biden has warned other players in the Middle East not to join the conflict, sending American warships to the region and vowing full support for Israel.
“He’s backed up that warning with the deployment of our largest carrier group, the Gerald R. Ford, as well as again making sure that Israel has what it needs and that we also have appropriate assets in place,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday during a stop in Israel.

While Hezbollah officials and legislators have threatened escalation, their leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has remained silent since Hamas’ surprise weekend attack.
The group in its public statements has said that they are continuing to monitor the situation. A spokesperson for Hezbollah did not respond to requests for comment.
An Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, said in a video briefing posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the situation is “relatively stable on the northern front”.
“We are monitoring the situation so that it doesn’t change,” he said. “We are deployed in significant numbers, strength and capabilities … and we are very vigilant to any attempt by Hezbollah to escalate the situation.”
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said international governments have urged Lebanese authorities to keep the crisis-hit country away from a new war.
China offers to work with Egypt to help mediate Israel-Hamas conflict
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called Thursday on all Lebanese groups to exercise self restraint and not to be pulled into “Israel’s plans”, an apparent message to Hezbollah.
He said Lebanon condemns “criminal acts committed by Israel” saying that it is “wiping out children and civilians” and called on the international community to work on ending hostilities.
Israeli leaders have repeatedly warned that they would unleash vast destruction in southern Lebanon if war breaks out with Lebanon.
Israel in 2006 flattened large parts of villages, towns and cities in southern Lebanon and entire blocks in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Following the war, Lebanon received an influx of international funding, including from wealthy Gulf countries, for reconstruction.
However, as Hezbollah has gained power, Lebanon’s ties with Gulf monarchies have soured and the international community has grown frustrated with rampant corruption and mismanagement. On top of that, Lebanon’s government institutions are cash-strapped and dysfunctional.
“If war were to start now, we would be looking at a much slower and more complicated reconstruction,” said Mona Fawaz, a professor of urban studies and planning at the American University of Beirut.
Additional reporting by Reuters


Israel strikes kill at least 7 in Lebanon as Hezbollah denounces US-brokered talks

Israel says close to killing all architects of October 7 attack

Bulgaria’s Dara wins Eurovision contest, beating out Israel for top spot

Gaza: Israel kills Hamas leader as deaths mount despite ceasefire

Israel-Gaza war

As Israel battles Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah is the wild card on the northern border

An Israeli tank near the border with Lebanon, northern Israel. Photo: Reuters

An Israeli soldier in the northern city of Shlomo on the border between Israel and Lebanon. Photo: AFP

Israeli Merkava tanks in the upper Galilee in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon. Photo: AFP

A Hezbollah fighter carries the coffin of his comrade who was killed by Israeli shelling. Photo: AP

The border wall between Lebanon and Israel, as seen from the Lebanese side in the southern village of Marwaheen. Photo: AP

Israel-Gaza war: Donald Trump slammed for calling Hezbollah ‘smart’, Netanyahu ‘not prepared’

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves at the Club 47 USA event in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Israel-Gaza war: Blinken tells Netanyahu US ‘by Israel’s side’, Palestinians have ‘legitimate aspirations’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Photo: Photo: Haim Zach/GPO/dpa

Posters with photos of some of the people missing after the Hamas attack on Israel were put up ahead of a press conference in London on Thursday. Photo: AP

Palestinians in Gaza amid the rubble of destroyed buildings on Thursday following an Israeli strike. Photo: AFP

A dead body lies on the ground on Wednesday in Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel, following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip. Photo: Reuters

A shopper leaves a store while armed with an assault rifle in Sderot, southern Israel on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Israel says no break to Gaza siege unless hostages are freed

Destruction from Israeli aerial bombardment in Gaza City. Photo: AP

Israel has massed forces, tanks and other heavy armour around Gaza in its retaliatory operation. Photo: AFP


Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a press conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday. Photo: via EPA-EFE

Israeli troops fire rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel. Photo: AFP

Israel’s Netanyahu vows to ‘crush and destroy’ Hamas as ground war looms

An Israeli army self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel. Photo: AFP

Mourners at a funeral in Tel Aviv, Israel, for a victim of Hamas’ attack. Photo: AP

Israeli tanks on the move near the Israeli-Gaza border, Israel. Photo: AP

Relatives react next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, at a hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Reuters

Hezbollah and Hamas claim attacks on Israel from Lebanon, threatening new front in war

Israel’s military said it responded with artillery fire to rocket launches coming from Lebanese territory. Photo: AFP

A man looks at a wall house that was hit by Israeli shelling in a village in south Lebanon on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

World

Middle East

Israel is preparing for a possible Gaza ground offensive following weekend attack by Hamas insurgents
The conflict carries risk of escalation if Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon opens a new front against Israel


Will Lebanon’s heavily armed Hezbollah militia join the Israel-Hamas war? The answer could well determine the direction of a battle that is bound to reshape the Middle East.


Israel

War and conflict

Islamic militancy

Iran

Lebanon

Based on factual reporting but incorporating the expertise of the author, offering interpretations and conclusions.  (Eg. Clash of Civilisations in South China Sea: will China or the US prevail?)


Analysis