Hezbollah Targets Command Center in Northern Israel

Strike a response to assassinations, attacks on civilians

For the second time this month, Hezbollah reports targeting an Israeli Air Command Center in northern Israel with rockets. The base, on the top of Mt. Meron, was heavily used for aerial command before it was badly damaged earlier this month, in a Hezbollah retaliation to an assassination.

This time, Hezbollah is reporting the strikes were in response to further assassinations as well as Israeli attacks on civilians in southern Lebanon and Syria. Hezbollah’s comments on Syria likely refer to a Damascus attack that killed five Iranian advisors in a residential building that was destroyed.

The assassinations have occurred intermittently in Lebanon, with senior officials targeted as opportunity presents itself. The most recent such attack killed a Hezbollah operative, yet reportedly the main target of the drone strike was able to survive.

The latest string of tit-for-tat strikes began with the assassination of Saleh Arouri, a Hamas figure who was responsible for hostage exchanges, who was killed in Beirut. Hezbollah, angered by the strikes on the Lebanese capital, responded with rocket fire against various Israeli targets, and seems to favor hitting the Mt. Meron base as a high-profile, poorly defended site.

Israel has made a big deal about using the Iron Dome system to shoot down incoming missiles fired at its territory, yet Hezbollah largely uses rockets meant for anti-tank fire, and the defensive system is generally not effective at intercepting these.

Increasingly, Israel is focusing on southern Lebanon as a legitimate war zone, and it is being called a war in every way but the official name. Ground operations are talked about as if they are inevitable, with Israel amassing tens of thousands of troops in the north. The number of troops preparing for the fight with Hezbollah is nearly the same as that currently deployed in the open-ended Gaza Strip war.

The United States has reportedly warned Israel against such an expansion, arguing that they are so busy with Gaza they risk spreading the military too thin with a sudden Lebanon invasion. Israeli officials, however, appear confident they’ll get US support on the conflict either way, and, having positioned fights against Hezbollah as de facto proxy battles with Iran, seem to be strongly leaning toward an invasion.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.