ReutersSmoke clouds over Lebanon, on the border with Israel
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 16:29
A first retaliatory attack, that’s what Hezbollah called the several hundred rockets and drones that were fired at Israel last night. The damage was limited: Israel says it intercepted the projectiles and averted a major attack. Last night, the Israeli army bombed dozens of places in Lebanon “as a precaution”.
Hezbollah was waiting for a response after Israel assassinated its commander-in-chief Fuad Shukr in the Lebanese capital Beirut last month. Hezbollah announced the attack last night, after which Israel declared a state of emergency in the country and carried out bombardments. According to Israel, thousands of rockets were destroyed.
In Israel itself, daily life is largely continuing, but the region is once again on edge. Although Israel and Hezbollah have been firing rockets at each other almost daily since October, these attacks have been much larger than before. Hezbollah says that this attack completes the “first phase,” which would mean that more will follow.
Revenge actions
With this, Hezbollah wants to increase the pressure, says historian Peter Malcontent, university lecturer at Utrecht University. “It can be a warning to Israel to come to an agreement, and that there will be no more revenge action afterwards.” In the background, negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire are ongoing.
Who is Hezbollah and what do they want?
Then there is the Iranian revenge that is in the air. Shortly after Shukr’s assassination, Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran. Iran threatened to retaliate. But Iran is said to be prepared to refrain from an attack if there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
“If there is no deal, Iran will want to carry out an attack itself,” expects Joost Hiltermann, Middle East expert at Crisis Group, an international think tank. “But it is completely unknown when Iran will do that. That could also be in a year.” Last week said a spokesperson from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that a revenge attack could be a long time coming.
File still far away
A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel still seems far away. Under the mediation of the United States, Qatar and Egypt, the parties are talking to each other again. Negotiations are also expected to resume today. US Secretary of State Blinken last week called this round “possibly the last chance” to free the hostages and reach a ceasefire.
But it doesn’t seem to be going smoothly. The main sore point are the two corridors in Gaza, where Israel wants to maintain military control. These are the border between Gaza and Egypt, the so-called Philadelphi Corridor, and the Netzarim Corridor, in the middle of the Gaza Strip. The army has drawn a border there itself, with which the north and south are closed off from each other.
Gaza negotiations are (still) stuck because of this piece of land
They are demands made by Israel a few weeks ago table has been laid. Hamas is said to have agreed to US President Biden’s original plan, which states that Israel would withdraw militarily from Gaza. But according to the Israeli army leadership and the Americans, Prime Minister Netanyahu does not want to agree to this.
It is questionable whether Hezbollah’s attack will have any impact on the negotiations, Hiltermann argues. “Netanyahu has made it clear that he does not want a deal if it means the survival of Hamas. The biggest contention now is inside Israel, between Netanyahu and the Israeli negotiators.”
The region has reacted with displeasure to last night’s attacks. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry warns of a new war front in Lebanon. The UN peacekeeping force, led by Dutch envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, calls the developments worrying and calls for the attacks to be stopped to prevent further escalation.
