The news this week that Israel placed explosives in thousands of pager devices which exploded in Lebanon killing nine people and injuring thousands is yet another escalation in this war, (the war).
Over 200 people are in critical condition and among those dead and injured where many civilians including a young girl.
It came after the weekend where it was announced that returning Israeli’s home north to the border with Lebanon, in contested land, was to become an official goal of the war. As it is over 50,000 Israeli's have had to move out of this area and their return home has now become a key platform.
It is extremely difficult to know what is exactly going in Gaza. The Israeli states crackdown on Western journalists have made their jobs of reporting on the true scale of events in the strip next to impossible.
A report in Haaretz stating journalists now need to rely on social media posts and telephone calls with reporters who live there.
Whilst these social media reports and independent journalists have reached a select few – for newsrooms they require additional verification before running such stories.
As a result no matter how bad you think it is in Gaza it’s worse.
So, as Gaza is getting flattened and the consequences are/will be horrific – well it’s a genocide after all, it seems the Israeli state are turning their, and our, attention to Lebanon's Hezbollah.
However, taking on Hezbollah will be a very different type of war. Hezbollah are not Hamas. Better trained, better armed, experienced fighters. They have the capability to fire back deep into Israel itself.
This could be the beginnings of a long war with heavy casualties on both sides. Is this what the “lunatic” country of Israel want? (Quote Norman Finkelstein).
In line with public opinion Yoav Gallant, the Israeli military head, told reporters that a hostage deal was an opportunity;
that gives us a high chance to change the security situation on all fronts…
Last month 67% of Israelis say they support a more aggressive approach against Hezbollah following months of tit for tat clashes. Well I think the public have got what they asked for.
Hezbollah on the other hand have stated it’s determination to continue attacking Israel as long as it continues it’s genocidal programme in Gaza. Obviously, for this latest attack they vow retaliation.
We will see what comes of this latest attack, we may still be in the prelude phase, but this has all the appearance of heading to a wider conflict and more war into 2025 and 2026.
One reason for this is the full support of the current admin in the US. It’s a sad state of affairs to see such a mighty country as the US to be in Israel’s pocket. (One nation under blackmail!) If Trump wins Israel will be delighted as under the sponsorship of Mrs Adelson Trump is extremely pro-Israel.
Still, Israel hasn’t taken out Hamas and has lost more soldiers than they would have liked. Up to 350 soldiers have died since October. They could be taking on more than they can chew. In terms of the wider war Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said;
It appears that the organisers of this high-tech attack deliberately sought to foment a large-scale armed confrontation in order to provoke a major war in the Middle East.
