Diamond Member Pelican Press 0 Posted August 26, 2024 Diamond Member Share Posted August 26, 2024 This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up After Attacks, ******* and Hezbollah Swiftly Move to Talk of Containment For weeks, Israelis have waited in trepidation for a major ******* by Hezbollah in retaliation for *******’s ************** of a senior commander of the Lebanese group in Beirut last month, amid widespread fears that a cross-border escalation could spiral into an all-out regional war. But much of ******* woke up on Sunday to find that at least for the immediate term, the long-dreaded ******* appeared to be over almost before it started. Both ******* and Hezbollah quickly claimed victories of sorts: ******* for its predawn pre-emptive strikes against what the military said were thousands of Hezbollah’s rocket launcher barrels in southern Lebanon; and Hezbollah for its subsequent ******* of barrages of rockets and drones at northern *******, which the ******** military said ******* a naval officer. By breakfast time, the two sides were employing the language of containment. Hezbollah announced that it had completed the “first stage” of its ******* to avenge the ************** of the senior commander, Fuad Shukr, and appeared to be calling it a day, at least for now. *******’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said he had spoken with the U.S. secretary of defense, Lloyd J. Austin III, and they had “discussed the importance of avoiding regional escalation,” according to a statement from Mr. Gallant’s office. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a speech on Sunday evening that his group had attacked an ******** intelligence base, Glilot, just north of Tel Aviv. If the results of the ******* on the base turned out to be satisfactory, he said, the militia would rest its case. If it turned out to be a ********, he added, then Hezbollah reserved the right to respond at a later date. After the attacks, the Middle East remained on edge, the days ahead uncertain. “There can be stages,” cautioned Ehud Yaari, an *******-based fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research group. “You can have escalation that is gradual.” Later Sunday morning, the ******** military said it was continuing to strike Hezbollah launchers in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is estimated to possess tens of thousands of rockets and a smaller number of more sophisticated, precise missiles. And Iran, Hezbollah’s patron, still has an open account with *******, blaming it for the ************** of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of its ally ******, while he was in Tehran, just hours after the ******** of Mr. Shukr. ******* officially took responsibility for Mr. Shukr’s ****** but not for Mr. Haniyeh’s. In broadcast remarks delivered at the start of a government meeting on Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ******* declared that the morning’s events were “not the end of the story.” But by then, life in ******* had largely returned to routine. Based on intelligence, ******* took the decision to pre-empt Hezbollah’s ******* on Sunday “but not to go beyond,” Mr. Yaari said. The targets that ******* struck were all less than 30 miles inside Lebanon, he said. ******* said they were focused on thwarting the threat to ******** forces and civilians from Hezbollah’s arsenal of rockets and drones, not its wider assets or infrastructure. Hezbollah, for its part, appears to be “signaling that it is done for now,” Mr. Yaari said. “At the same time, they are saying this was the first stage of retaliation, leaving open the option to do more, if they get a green light from the Iranians,” he added. The events on Sunday have raised the stakes for negotiators gathering in Cairo to try to advance a cease-***** and ********-release deal for the ongoing war in Gaza. The ******* States is leading the push, along with Qatari and Egyptian mediators, for a deal that would end the 10-month conflict between ******* and ******, in the hope that such an agreement could help calm tensions in the region. For months, Hezbollah and ******* had already engaged in ****-for-tat cross-border clashes. Hezbollah began ******* in solidarity with ****** after last October’s ******-led ******** on southern ******* prompted ******* to go to war in Gaza. The exchanges between ******* and Hezbollah have grown in intensity in recent weeks, in what many analysts have described as a war of attrition. An all-out war between ******* and Hezbollah would be devastating for both sides, experts say. Hezbollah’s rockets and missiles can reach much of ******* and could paralyze parts of the country for weeks or months. But the group must weigh its ******* for revenge against the risks of a backlash at home in Lebanon, which is already mired in political and economic turmoil. ******* has long been readying for a war in Lebanon and is probably much better prepared than it was on its southern front, where ****** took it by surprise in October. Mr. Netanyahu said that ******** forces destroyed thousands of Hezbollah’s short-range rockets on Sunday and intercepted a swarm of drones that he said Hezbollah had launched at a strategic target in the center of the country. Tens of thousands of residents of the towns and villages on both sides of *******’s border with Lebanon have been displaced from their homes for nearly 10 months. “This is an additional step in changing the situation in the north and returning our residents securely to their homes,” Mr. Netanyahu said of Sunday’s actions. But no date has been set for their return. This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up #Attacks #******* #Hezbollah #Swiftly #Move #Talk #Containment This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Link to comment https://hopzone.eu/forums/topic/109696-after-attacks-israel-and-hezbollah-swiftly-move-to-talk-of-containment/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
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