Osama Al-Sharif<\/p>\n
Israel and Hezbollah traded punches on Sunday in what was described as the most violent exchange between the two sides since Oct. 7. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said the early-morning firing of more than 300 Katyusha rockets at northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights was followed by the launching of several drones that hit carefully chosen and sensitive military targets close to Tel Aviv. In a speech on Sunday evening, he declared that the attack was the party\u2019s response to last month\u2019s assassination by Israel of top Hezbollah military leader Fouad Shukr in Beirut\u2019s southern district.
\nHe indicated that the operation concluded the party\u2019s retaliation for the assassination but that it reserved the right to carry out further attacks in the future. Meanwhile, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah will continue to engage Israel in the north within the rules of engagement in support of Palestinians in Gaza, adding that only an end to the war there would stop the hostilities with Israel.
\nNasrallah admitted that Israel had carried out what it called a preemptive strike against Hezbollah positions in Lebanon, but he debunked Israeli claims that it had destroyed thousands of missiles or undermined the party\u2019s plans to launch a retaliatory attack on Israel.
\nHe revealed that Hezbollah had chosen the military-run intelligence base of Glilot, a few kilometers north of Tel Aviv, as its primary target, adding that the operation was successful. But Israel has denied that the base was hit and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the army had intercepted most of the drones and missiles. Israel had earlier said that its response to the Hezbollah threat was also concluded, while Netanyahu said that Sunday\u2019s showdown \u201cwas not the end of the story.\u201d
\nHamas and Iran praised Hezbollah\u2019s attack, with the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman tweeting: \u201cThe Israeli terrorist army has lost its effective offensive and deterrent power and now must defend itself against strategic strikes.\u201d
\nHezbollah\u2019s retaliation for Shukr\u2019s assassination took 25 days to happen, but Nasrallah argued that the delay was due to coordination with Iran over the timing and shape of the attack. Iran had vowed a harsh and painful response after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas political leader, in Tehran on July 31. Nasrallah added that the delay was also linked to the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, which took place in Doha and Cairo over three days in mid-August.
\nIsrael has been bracing for a strike or series of strikes from Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis. The US assembled a sizable naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean to warn all three. Nasrallah alluded to the US military presence in the region as having influenced the decision to launch its large-scale attack on Israel.
\nAfter Sunday\u2019s exchange, both sides clearly agreed to avoid a full-scale war. For Nasrallah, the calculated response brought an end to weeks of speculation and fear, not only in Israel but also in Lebanon. By hinting that the attack was successful, Nasrallah managed to take his party out of the current crisis between Israel and the US, on the one hand, and Iran on the other.
\nWhile there was relief in Israel that the specter of thousands of Hezbollah missiles raining down on Israeli towns was over, there was frustration that the military and the political leadership had failed to agree on a plan to neutralize Hezbollah\u2019s threat once and for all. There was also an admission that the only way to return tens of thousands of Israelis to their homes in northern Israel, other than open war with Lebanon, was to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
\nTo underscore such a point is the fact that Hezbollah resumed firing rockets and launching drones at the north almost immediately on Sunday in response to the Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon and the targeting of resistance officials and fighters in Lebanese cities and towns.
\nBut for most Israeli analysts, it was Hezbollah that won Sunday\u2019s battle because it still possesses the capabilities to strike military targets in northern Israel and the Golan Heights, while keeping thousands of displaced Israelis from returning to their homes.
\nThe US chose not to get involved in this latest confrontation. Instead, it announced that it is pushing all parties meeting in Cairo to reach a ceasefire agreement. This leaves Tehran in an awkward position. With Hezbollah now watching from the sidelines, it is yet to fulfill its threat to punish Israel for Haniyeh\u2019s killing.
\nLate on Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated his country\u2019s planned retaliation for Israel\u2019s assassination of Haniyeh, saying it would be \u201cmeasured.\u201d In a post on X, Araghchi wrote: \u201cIran reaction to Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran is definitive and will be measured & well calculated.\u201d \u201cWe do not fear escalation, yet do not seek it \u2014 unlike Israel,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Osama Al-Sharif Israel and Hezbollah traded punches on Sunday in what was described as the most violent exchange between the two sides since Oct. 7. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said the early-morning firing of more than 300 Katyusha rockets at northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights was followed by the launching of several drones […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13446],"class_list":{"0":"post-427545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-article","7":"tag-osama-al-sharif"},"yoast_head":"\n