Credit: DH illustration
The conflict between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon is threatening to plunge the Middle East into a new spiral of violence with endless numbers of Jews and Arabs losing their lives.
The deadliest and latest round of fighting erupted on Monday when Israel launched massive air strikes against hundreds of targets across Lebanon, including in its capital, Beirut. More than 300 civilians are said to have been killed in the first hours of the Israeli offensive.
Military analysts speculate that the air strike is a precursor to a full-scale land invasion that could see Israel re-occupy southern Lebanon for an indefinite period of time.
These latest Israeli air attacks came in response to Sunday’s Hezbollah bombardment of many Israeli towns and cities, including the strategic port of Haifa. Hezbollah claims its attacks were in response to the pager and walkie/talkie beeper explosions that targetted thousands of its fighters as well as Lebanese civilians.
The beeper bombs attack embarrassed Hezbollah and sparked a wave of sarcastic commentaries throughout the Arab and Islamic world.
These commentaries highlight the awe Israel’s technology and tactics have inspired among Muslims and also
how Hezbollah is widely despised in
the region.
They took place as Israel announced it was shifting its military focus away from the 11-month-old Gaza conflict, where according to Palestinians
more than 40,000 have died, to a new war front on its northern border with Lebanon.
Since the Gaza war started on October 7 last year, Hezbollah and Israel have been simultaneously engaged in a second front of what military analysts describe as “low-intensity” fighting. As a result of Hezbollah’s mortar, drone and rocket attacks, more than 80,000 Israelis have been forced to flee their homes and find temporary shelters in other parts of the country. Israel had previously avoided an all-out war with Hezbollah because the Lebanese group is known to have precision missiles that could strike major cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa.
Hezbollah has till now held back from using its precision missiles. They could still be launched, but Israeli officials now believe Hezbollah’s capabilities have been set back by the pager/walkie-talkie explosions, as well as by the elimination of top Hezbollah commanders such as Ibrahim Akil, who was killed in Israeli air strikes on Beirut’s Dahiya suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold.
The pager walkie/talkie explosions have prompted Israelis to openly celebrate what they see as a tactical victory against a militant group that poses an existential threat to the Jewish State. Whereas Hamas has now almost been neutralised, with thousands of its fighters killed, and its rocket launchers and tunnels destroyed, the heavily armed Hezbollah is projected by Israelis as a far more dangerous and long-term threat. The below-the-belt beeper bombs that damaged hands fingers, genitals, eyes and noses are being characterised in the Israeli media as a well-deserved humiliation and physical scarring of enemy fighters.
The Israelis have not denied reports in the Western media that heads of its legendary Mossad intelligence service planned this Lebanon operation for years by setting up numerous front companies that sold the booby-trapped beepers at bargain prices to Hezbollah. Ironically, Hezbollah believed that using old-fashioned beepers was safer than trusting smartphones as a means of communication.
Israeli social media-users have gone overboard in supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegedly personally authorising the Lebanon operation. In one video, a proud Netanyahu is depicted in dark glasses as he walks about with a pumped-up chest. Asked in the video if he is James Bond, he takes off his dark glasses and replies with a smile, “No, I am Benjamin Netanyahu.”
The beeper bombs episode has boosted Israeli public morale and restored confidence in their Prime Minister, armed forces and security services. This is a complete reversal of what happened last October when Israel was caught off-guard by the surprise Hamas attack. Delighted Israelis have been sharing social media comments, cartoons and videos of last week’s blasts in Lebanon.
On social media, commentators have been deriding Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah, saying that he will now need to use carrier pigeons to send messages to subordinates. This is in line with the boast of Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who repeatedly warned that his country would take Lebanon back to the stone age. Another image circulating on social media features a terrified Nasrallah and his aides sitting in an office as the telephone on his desk is ringing. No one dares to pick it up in case it is booby-trapped.
The Israelis are not the only ones rejoicing in Hezbollah’s humiliation. Many Syrians and even some Lebanese citizens have also taken to social media to pour scorn on Nasrallah and his group. Syrian activists blame Nasrallah for supporting the brutal human rights atrocities authorised by their own dictatorial regime headed by Bashar Al Asad. Many remember how Nasrallah sent his armed fighters to support Asad in the crackdown against opposition groups. “Israel’s attack is God’s punishment for the crimes committed against our Syrian people”, said Syrian television personality Hadi Abdallah, interviewed in a European capital. Another unnamed Syrian citizen, identified only as Mustafa, was quoted on Tik Tok as saying, “We, as Syrians, have the right to rejoice at the Israeli strikes on Hezbollah because Hezbollah killed our women and children, destroyed our cities, and displaced millions of our citizens.”
While Hezbollah has repeatedly asserted that it is doing its best to support the Gaza Strip-based Hamas, concerned Lebanese argue that there is no need for their country to be sacrificed for others. The Lebanese have taken due note of the destruction in Gaza and say they are not prepared to be the new victims of Israeli reprisals. They also point out that Hezbollah’s biggest supporter is Iran and do not understand why their tiny country should be fighting Iran’s proxy war.
Elsewhere in the countries of the Gulf, where Iran is seen as a threat, no tears are being shed on behalf of Hezbollah. Indeed, fear of Iran seems to outrank any fear of Israel. Former Iraqi diplomat Hamid Al Sherifi said in a recent podcast, “What were Hezbollah terrorists expecting? That they would attack Israel and escape scot-free? Now we see horrific images of people who have lost an eye or a nose, or another specific part of their body. The Lebanese people, like the Iraqis, are paying the price of Iran meddling in their affairs.”
(The writer is a London-based senior journalist)