The ‘Tel Aviv’ Operation and Expanding Hezbollah’s Attacks: First Signs of the Resistance’s New Program
Ibrahim Al-Amin, Orinoco Tribune, July 21, 2024 —
In his first speech after the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah stated that the support front from Lebanon operates according to two criteria: one related to the scale of the Zionist enemy’s attacks, and the other concerning the support needed to prevent the breakdown of the resistance in Gaza. The leader of Ansarallah, Seyyed Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, was quick to announce that Yemen’s participation in the battle aims to stop the aggression and lift the siege on Gaza. Both parties, in all subsequent statements issued by their respective military media, emphasized key phrases: supporting Gaza, backing its resistance, and striving to stop the aggression and lift the siege.
Later, Nasrallah and Al-Houthi developed their stance in several speeches, linked to various events, most importantly, the coordination between the forces of the Axis of Resistance, which took a different form and settled on strategies that included all fronts, including Gaza itself. It would not be long before some of the daily operational coordination, both politically and on the ground, among the parties of the Axis is revealed, from the center in Iran, passing through Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and reaching Gaza and the rest of Palestine.
Over the past nine months, the Resistance in Gaza has provided consistent evidence of its steadfastness, patience, and effectiveness, supplying allies with sufficient information about its conditions. The leaders of the Axis realized that the enemy would not achieve its goal of breaking the resistance in Gaza. The focus then shifted to supporting strategies that benefits the resistance in Gaza in two aspects: the first involves the attrition of the enemy and pushing it to stop the war, and the second concerns the position of the resistance in the ongoing negotiations to stop the war, especially since the political pressures on the resistance are immense, involving Palestinians, Arabs, and the US and “israeli” enemies.
Recent weeks have shown that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government does not intend to proceed with a deal to end the war, and he openly rejected a settlement he said achieves Hamas’ goals. He then engaged in a new maneuver that became more tied to the US election, his party members no longer hide their bet on the fall of Joe Biden’s administration, and they are relying on Donald Trump’s victory. They are now acting on the basis of continuing the war until these elections, with “israeli” Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir going so far as to reveal the big secret by stating that agreeing to the proposed deal would be a stab in the back of Trump.
Alongside the constant question about the most beneficial form of support for Gaza and its resistance, regional and international items were added to the Axis of Resistance’s agenda, including how to deal with the United States. Axis leaders are acting on the basis that there is no point in waiting for any change in the positions of the official Arab system: Saudi Arabia and the UAE show readiness to take revenge on Yemen, while Jordan cooperates with the Ramallah Palestinian Authority and its Security Forces in plans to suppress the Resistance in the West Bank, and everyone, under Egypt’s patronage, is involved in searching for an alternative authority to Hamas in Gaza, despite all being aware that achieving this would lead to a Palestinian-Palestinian civil strife that the enemy wants to be the top priority in its “Day After” program.
Hezbollah and Ansarallah have said, since the early days of the war, that they will not allow the defeat of the resistance in Gaza.
All this necessitated reconsidering the field programs of the resistance forces, imposing changes that can be implemented according to an arrangement that does not contradict the specificity of each party in the Axis of Resistance, without necessarily leading to a wide-scale regional war.
The resistance in Gaza has started transitioning from confronting the infiltration operations carried out by occupation forces to striking the gathering points and command centers of these forces across the Strip. In the past two weeks, they have shown models of this new pattern, reflecting continued reconnaissance capabilities and ambush setups, including planting explosives and carrying out precise attacks by commando groups or by shelling with various projectiles. Additionally, a symbolic step in the battle involves continuing to launch rocket salvos towards the settlements of the Gaza envelope.
On the eastern front, the Iraqis are involved in a special cooperation program with Ansarallah to carry out operations targeting vital enemy sites at multiple points within the entity, from Haifa in the north to “Eilat” in the far south. This sends the message that they can target US bases in the region at any moment.
Ansarallah’s qualitative operation of bombing “Tel Aviv ” at dawn on July 19 indicated that it was not random, nor a “one-time thing,” but was prepared with precise calculations, including how to choose from the abundant bank of targets available to the Axis of Resistance. It is noteworthy that footage revealed by Hezbollah about sensitive sites in the enemy entity represents a “natural yield” in the resistance units’ intelligence, where there is no shortage of targets in the entity.
Regarding Lebanon, the enemy entity may still doubt what the Hezbollah Secretary-General announced in his last speech about striking new settlements in the entity. Therefore, the bombing of new settlements came as a first message that the resistance in Lebanon, when it announces its readiness to strike new civilian centers, understands the likelihood of the enemy responding with bigger strikes. Accordingly, the resistance has prepared itself for a counter-response targeting new centers with greater force. If the new bombing warrants a new “israeli” response, the resistance in Lebanon is saying, in advance, that it is ready to match escalation, up to a comprehensive war.
Between the bombing of “Tel Aviv” and the bombing of new settlements in the north, there is a very thick thread extending to Gaza, where the enemy as well as the Gaza resistance know that the Axis of Resistance bears its responsibility not only in supporting Gaza but in doing more to serve the primary goal, which is stopping the aggression in all its forms. The resistance has clearly stated that any announcement about a ceasefire is only effective after it is announced by the Palestinian resistance.
Yesterday, the Al-Aqsa Flood battle entered a new phase. According to simple field calculations, what happened in “Tel Aviv” and the new targeted settlements indicates that the resistance forces are able to carry out operations that the enemy cannot prevent. Everyone should act on the basis that what the enemy could not achieve after nine months of killing and destruction will not be achieved through a harsh starvation war against the people of Gaza.
As for the friends of the resistance who “believe” that it has become necessary to prepare a political program for the “day after,” they must move from their current position to a very clear position and political program that supports the option of resistance. Any talk about the so-called cost of resistance serves the interest of the enemy and will not help revive all the illusions of negotiation, reconciliation, and political solutions… Because the entity’s remaining lifespan is much shorter than many imagine.