It’s not necessary, but this is a serious and dangerous escalation, writes the BBC in its analysis of recent events in the Middle East.
Both sides—Israel and Hezbollah—claim to have successfully completed their missions in the early hours of the morning.
Israel says it deployed around 100 fighter jets to attack 40 different locations in Lebanon, destroying “thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers targeting northern and central Israel.”
Hezbollah claims it has “successfully completed the first phase” of a retaliatory operation for the death of its senior commander, Fuad Shukr, who was killed last month in an Israeli attack in Beirut.
The Lebanese group, which spent months planning and gathering information on targets inside Israel, claimed it hit 11 Israeli bases in a wave of Katyusha rocket launches.
Neither side wants a full-scale war, which could involve Iran and the U.S., reports Telegrafi.
But the question is whether Israel and Hezbollah will stop here, claiming they have done enough for now.
And the answer is probably not, writes the BBC.
For the Israelis, the ongoing cross-border attacks by Hezbollah are intolerable, displacing more than 60,000 citizens from their homes while the government is being urged to address this by pushing the group north of the Litani River in Lebanon.
And in southern Lebanon, even more people have been forced to leave their homes for fear of Israeli attacks.
For Hezbollah, the ongoing Israeli military operation in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, provides momentum for their attacks on Israel’s northern border.
This is why diplomats, politicians, and intelligence chiefs are working so hard to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
It is believed that ending this conflict would calm tensions throughout the region.
