Why in news?
Israel attacks Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
What is the story behind?
- Hezbollah is a Shia militia-cum-political party in Lebanon.
- Hezbollah and Israel have fought two wars before.
- They have been observing a tenuous ceasefire for 14 years.
- The recent attacks mark a significant escalation in the crisis that has been building up along the border in recent years.
- Recent tensions began after Israel targeted Iranian weapons and supplies within Syria.
Why Israel specifically targets supplies in Syria?
- In Syria, the Shia militias fought alongside regime fighters against rebels and Sunni jihadists.
- So, Israel fears that Iranian supplies to Hezbollah via Syria would leave them stronger.
- This would enhance Israel’s security challenges in the northern border.
What was Israel’s target in the recent attacks?
- In the recent attacks, Israel targeted an observation post.
- The Israeli Defense Forces claimed that this post was attacked as they were used by Hezbollah for intelligence collection.
- The raid shows the growing appetite of the newly formed unity government of Netanyahu.
- This government is under fire at home over its COVID-19 crisis handling, for war as a means to address the simmering border problems.
For Israel, how tough target Hezbollah is?
- In 2000, after 18 years of occupation of southern Lebanon, Israel was forced to withdraw mainly due to the fighting of Hezbollah.
- In 2006, Israel invaded Lebanon, aimed at destroying Hezbollah’s military capabilities.
- But after a month of Israeli aerial and land attacks, Hezbollah fired hundreds of short-range rockets into northern Israel.
- Ever since, both sides have been wary of another open conflict.
- Israel, which bombed Gaza several times since its 2005 withdrawal from the strip, had been careful when it came to Hezbollah.
- The militants turned their focus to capacity building after the 2006 war, and, since 2011, to the civil war in Syria.
What is the axis formed?
- Syria has been a vital link between Hezbollah and Iran ever since the group was founded in the early 1980s.
- Iran has substantially increased its footprint in Syria, bolstering the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis.
- Israel sees this axis as a growing security challenge.
- Hence, it started the bombing operations in Syria, risking another conflict with Hezbollah.
What is next?
- The past two wars suggest that it would not be easy for Israel to defeat the battle-hardened Hezbollah fighters at their base.
- Hezbollah, on the other side, might resist an Israeli attack, but risks pulling Lebanon into a wider war.
- Lebanon is already battling an economic crisis, political instability and the after-effects of the Beirut blast.
- Both sides should avert such an outcome and stick to the ceasefire.
Source: The Hindu
