On the eve of the Lebanese-Israeli bloodshed

Viktor Mikhin, New Eastern Outlook, June 21, 2024 — 

Cross-border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah, last at war in 2006, have escalated recently and the Israeli military said that “plans of an offensive in Lebanon been approved and validated”. Earlier Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz warned that Hezbollah would be destroyed in a total war.

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, warned that “not a single place” in Israel would be spared in the event of a full-scale war against the Lebanese group and threatened Cyprus if it were to open its airports to Israel. “The enemy knows well that we have prepared for the worst”, Nasrallah said in a televised address. “Israel should expect us on land, at sea and by air”, he said. “The enemy really fears that the resistance will penetrate into Galilee” in northern Israel, adding that this is possible “if war is imposed on Lebanon”.

Aggravation of relations between Israel and Hezbollah

The war has not yet begun, yet the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, who acts more like a military man and as a warmonger, has already stated that the future holds total war. Taking into account that Hezbollah is in Lebanon, this means that the Lebanese civilian population will also be destroyed. This will be nothing new for the Israeli military and diplomats, who have already had ample practice massively destroying defenceless Palestinian civilians. In addition, the Israeli diplomat has already predicted the destruction of Hezbollah – something that is apparently only in his dreams. He did not learn anything from the experience of his senior colleague Netanyahu, who promised that Hamas would be destroyed at the start of the current conflict situation in Gaza. Yet it is already the eighth month of the war and the Palestinian group has not only not been defeated, but is also delivering sensitive blows to the Israeli occupiers in the Gaza Strip.

Lebanese-Cypriot relations

Nasrallah has said his Iranian-backed group had been informed that Israel could use airfields and bases in Cyprus if Hezbollah attacked Israeli airports. Cyprus, a member of the European Union, has good relations with both Israel and Lebanon and is located near the coast of both countries. “Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to launch attacks on Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is a participant in military operations and the resistance will consider this involvement in the war”, Nasrallah stated.

The UK retains sovereign control over two base areas in its former colony of Cyprus under the terms of the treaties that granted the island independence in 1960.

Nasrallah’s statements came a day after US Envoy Amos Hochstein, who brokered an agreement on the maritime border between Israel and Lebanon in 2022, called for “urgent” de-escalation during a visit to Lebanon. He also met with senior officials in Israel during his regional tour. “Everything that the enemy says and what the mediators convey, including threats of war to Lebanon… It doesn’t scare us”, Nasrallah said.

Hezbollah published a more than nine-minute video showing how a reconnaissance drone was able to take video footage and expose sensitive Israeli objects without being detected by anti-aircraft systems. Israeli media reported that the drone penetrated into Israeli regions and gathered important information about sensitive areas in the north. A number of objects were caught on film, such as the port of Haifa, the airport, military bases, the Rafael arms factory, the Kiryat Shmona Islands, the Iron Dome air defence system, several residential neighbourhoods and commercial complexes. Subsequently, the drone returned safely to Lebanon. Israeli media noted that Hezbollah transmitted the message via video, responding to threats of Israel taking action against Lebanon, saying that the scale of Hezbollah’s military goals against Israel would be considerable in thst case.

Nasrallah proudly said that the video was taken by a drone that “flew for hours” over the port of Haifa. He also warned that Hezbollah had used only part of its weapons. “We have developed some of our weapons… and we are saving others for the days to come”, Nasrallah said without going into details. “Years ago, we were talking about 100,000 fighters… Today we have significantly exceeded this number”, Nasrallah added. “The resistance has more fighters than it needs… even in the worst circumstances”, he said.

Hezbollah recently announced several attacks on Israeli troops and positions in northern Israel, as well as the deaths of four of its fighters. According to AFP, cross-border violence in Lebanon has killed at least 478 people since October, with most of them being resistance fighters, but also 93 civilians, including women and children. Israeli authorities say at least 15 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed in the North of the country. And, as they say, these are not the last victims and their number will increase dramatically if Netanyahu, in the paroxysm of his hatred, saving his personal life, goes a step further and plunges Israel and Lebanon into war.

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Victor MIKHIN, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”