Israel draws more blood with its first attack on Hezbollah in Beirut in months in a massive escalation that will trigger a response and is a serious warning to Iran
Israel’s massive air strike on southern Beirut over the weekend marked a major escalation amid repeated claims it has breached the Gaza ceasefire. Now it has again breached the shaky agreement to cease hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, agreed a year ago and which was meant to be monitored by the US.
The latest notch in this never-ending cycle of war marks three significant moves- the clinging onto power of Benjamin Netanyahu, trimming back Hezbollah and a warning to Iran. All in apparent defiance of the ceasefire and the US – although it is hard to imagine the White House was not informed of the strike beforehand.
Significantly, the attack killed Hezbollah’s Chief of Staff, dubbed by Israel the “master of murders” Haitham Ali al-Tabtabai, a long-serving veteran of the group. At least five other people were killed and 28 others were wounded in the strike, which hit an apartment building in the densely populated Dahieh district.
This was the first attack on Beirut in months and shows Netanyahu, already bruised by failure absolutely to end Hamas in Gaza, attempting to extend his tenure. It also comes despite the ceasefire agreement settled in November 2024 and Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qmati said it crossed a “red line” and that a response was being considered.
As Hezbollah thrashes out plans for its response its paymasters in Tehran will be debating whether this was a warning to stop ploughing money into the network. And as the Gaza ceasefire looks weakened by recent attacks, so too does the one in Lebanon.
Iran’s military proxy Hezbollah has been devastated, taken apart, since 2022 when it launched attacks in support of Hamas in Gaza. Scores of Hezbollah kingpins were killed and thousands injured after the group was duped into buying pager rigged to explode at a time of Israeli agency Mossad’s choosing.
Last year thousands of pagers simultaneously exploded across Lebanon on one day , mainly in areas with a strong Hezbollah presence. The blasts wounded or killed users and some people nearby, spreading panic and confusion. The following day walkie-talkies exploded in the same way, killing and injuring hundreds more.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel was responsible two months later, Israeli media reported at the time and it has emerged this was a long-term plot by the Mossad intelligence agency. Whatever lapses Israeli intelligence were guilty of in ignoring the warning signs of a Hamas attack on Israel, it was regaining the initiative.
Its long-time and incredibly elusive leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in a Beirut airstrike, along with dozens of others over a period of months of strikes on Lebanon. But despite US and Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear plants and assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah men inside Iran, Tehran has continued to try to rebuild Hezbollah.
One source told the Daily Mirror: “It is possible that as much as £1 billion has been ploughed back into Hezbollah in recent months as an indication of how important a proxy it was and may still be. “You cannot under-estimate how important Hezbollah has been to Iran as an extension of its military power reaching all the way to Israel’s doorstep.
“The victories Israel has celebrated against Hezbollah has significantly eroded Iran’s capability in exporting terrorism against not only Israel but also its allies.” The weekend attack on Hezbollah is a strategic result of a kind in what western commanders often term as “mowing the lawn,” trimming back terror groups, even though they grow back.
But Iran will be watching carefully, calculating its next move and planning a response to try and save face across the region as its regime is much weakened by these repeated attacks.
Dozens have been killed in Israel’s strikes on Gaza in recent days – the latest in what Palestinians groups have called breaches of the ceasefire agreement. It is claimed more than 70,000 Gazans have been killed in the Strip since the October 7 2022 Hamas attacks on southern Israel which killed some 1,200.
The armed breakout of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters from Gaza triggered a devastating war that brought in Hamas support from groups in lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen – even triggering joint strikes by the US and Israel on Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But tension with Hezbollah, which is trying to rebuild is mounting.
And now it seems Israel has overtly broken cover and said to Iran it must stop funding Hezbollah or face more wrath, possibly backed by the US as it was in the strikes on Tehran’s nuclear plants.