Israel’s ‘price war’ with Hezbollah: Netanyahu’s Calculated Provocations on the Lebanese Front

By Elijah J. Magnier:

Iran does not want to escalate to a full-scale war or increase tensions in the Middle East while seeking inevitable revenge. However, this stance is taken with the understanding that the most significant American military presence, alongside NATO forces, remains on high alert with its finger on the trigger. Hezbollah, too, will not be drawn into the war that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so desperately wants, especially with the deployment of US aircraft carriers with offensive missions and their readiness to attack and defend Israel, as senior White House officials have promised.

As a result, Israel has shifted its military focus to Lebanon, partially diverting its efforts away from Gaza without ceasing its military operations there. This has evolved into a “price war” aimed at inflicting significant losses on Hezbollah for its support of the “Al-Aqsa Flood”, taking advantage of the increased Western presence in the Middle East. The critical question remains: how long can Hezbollah withstand this pressure before a significant military response in revenge for Israel’s assassination of its top military commander, Fouad Shukr?

The former commander of the Israeli air defence forces, Brigadier General Zvika Haimovich, said: “There is a change like the war and the fighting in the north (on the Lebanese front). Hezbollah is operating on two levels: first, by extending the range of its attacks deeper into Israel; second, by targeting mixed military and civilian sites and claiming responsibility for them, which it has not done before. Israel, on the other hand, is carrying out more serious and intensive preventive and offensive operations. We are witnessing a situation of attrition and normalisation of mutual attacks, with both sides escalating the confrontation and time passing without a clear strategic objective”. Former Israeli army spokesman Brigadier General Ran Kochav added: “Hezbollah and we are playing the game of reciprocal strikes, an attempt to dress up the exchange of fire.