Continuing a series of tit-for-tat strikes across the northern Israeli border with Lebanon, Hezbollah reported that it struck military sites in the border town of Metula, killing an unspecified number of Israeli soldiers and wounding others. This round of strikes was in retaliation for Israel’s Thursday strike on the village of Aitaroun in Lebanon.
Aitaroun was one of several Israeli strikes targeting buildings that it claimed were in use by Hezbollah. In this case, the strike was against a house, killing one Hezbollah member and wounding three civilians.
Hezbollah’s return fire both targeted multiple military sites in Metula and a radar site in Shebaa Farms, which they said caused a direct hit damaging the site.
Israel didn’t confirm any casualties in Metula, saying only that a drone crashed “close” to a Metula base, but that no one was hurt in the strike. They didn’t mention the apparent Hezbollah rocket fire at all.
Lebanese military sources reported Israel carried out six airstrikes against four towns and villages on Friday, along with artillery fire against a number of sites which they claimed were the source of rocket fire.
Reportedly three Hezbollah fighters were killed in a house attack on Blida, while three civilians were wounded in an Israeli strike on the nearby town of Baraacht. All told, the attack destroyed five houses and damaged over 15 others.
Hezbollah issued a statement following the attack on Metula declaring the Israelis there have “until the end of the week” to flee, urging them to escape to southern cities. . Metula is the northernmost town in Israel, with a long complex history.
People keep looking at these small Hezbollah strikes and think “the Iron Dome takes care of those.” They forget that Hezbollah can easily overwhelm the Iron Dome any time they want. They can dump five hundred drones and missiles on Metula and barely make a dent in the arsenal. And that as Scott Ritter put it, the Hezbollah accountants are sitting there ticking off the $5,000 or whatever cost of a drone versus the $1.5 million cost of an Iron Dome missile.
There’s no chance of Israel winning that game.
Israel can probably shell civilian centers in Lebanon just as well as Hezbollah if not more so.
The only reason that Hezbollah is keeping this war of attrition is due to the fact that the safety of Lebanon is not their goal. Their main goal is to be Iran’s proxy against Israel.
The only question is whether Iran will decide that its within its interest to protect Lebanon or are they willing to fight to the last Lebanese.
There are enough Lebanese that dislike Shia Iran and dislike being controlled by it neighbors for the past several decades (Syria, PLO, Israel and now Iran). If a war breaks, it might turn into a Syria like civil war.
Lebanese may dislike Iran and Hezbollah, but they’ll take them over Israeli turning their country into another Gaza.
This is region specific and unfortunately, also ethnic specific view. In general, Hezbollah is mostly supported by the Shia population in the South who believe they need their protection from the Sunnis and Christians. The norther you go, the less support you get for Hezbollah from the people.
Like all religious parties, Hezbollah support is stronger in rural areas and lesser in urban areas like Beirut.
In general, there is a growing number of people (mostly youth) who see Iran’s control of Lebanon as a continuation of the Syrian occupation, the Israeli control of southern Lebanon and the PLO state within a state.
There are those who blame the first Lebanese civil war on the US, the USSR, Israel, Syria, the Palestinians, Egypt (and even France and the UK). They long for the pre civil war days where, in their minds, Lebanon was free and prosperous.
But Lebanon doesn’t have a real military, and without Hezbollah, Israel will annex half of Lebanon for greater Israeli expansion.
And how is that a good thing?
A state, especially one located in the mid east with neighbors such as Lebanon was blessed with should have a standing military. Lebanon should not depend on the kindness of strangers. especially when the strangers put the security of Lebanon in low priority. Lebanon is not protected by Hezbollah. It was not protected by the Syrian army, it was not protected by Lahad militia, it was not protected by Amal, it was not protected by the PLO and it was not protected by various US/USSR “advisors”.
All militias should be absorbed into the Lebanon army and answer to a single ruling body (like real states).
The reason Israel exists for the past 75 years is because when it formed, the government absorbed all militias, gangs and armed groups into the IDF by force.
Yes, Israel is underreporting its military deaths in the media. They are already doing it in Gaza, what more Lebanon, where soldier deaths are considerably higher. Never trust Western media. The only chance Israel have to get to that arsenal that Hezbollah have is a ground invasion, which has its own risks, more casualties and no guarantees of success
If I were Israel, I would replace that building with a maternity hospital for Israeli women who were raped by Palestinians. If Hezbollah bombs the maternity hospital, it would be more evidence that Israel is justified in committing genocide.