Israel is turning the screws on Hezbollah

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

49% : Since its achievements in the last months of 2024, Israel has been engaged in an active campaign to disrupt Hezbollah's ability to rebuild its capacities.
48% : The killing of Lebanese Hezbollah military chief Haytham Ali Tababtabai by Israel this week reflects how much the balance of power between Jerusalem and the Iran-backed Shia Islamist group has shifted since the year-long war between the two in 2023 and 2024.
46% : Battered, Hezbollah reversed the late Nasrallah's expressed decision and agreed to a separate ceasefire with Israel in November last year.
43% : The practical consequence of this is escalation: Hezbollah is seeking to repair and rebuild its capacities, no force in Lebanon is willing or able to stop this, and Israel, aware of Hezbollah's intentions towards it, is determined to keep the organisation weak and possesses the capacity to do so.
43% : Which means that as of now, the largely two-way contest between Israel and Iran's proxy in Lebanon is set to continue.
42% : While Hezbollah has now been shown to be much weaker than Israel, it nevertheless remains stronger than any internal faction in Lebanon, including the official Lebanese government.
42% : And secondly, Hezbollah's historic leader Hassan Nasrallah, who chose on 8 October to open a support front against Israel on Hamas's behalf.
41% : In so doing, he obligated them to come to his assistance at a time when they neither desired nor were ready for all-out war against Israel.
41% : He believed his own propaganda regarding Israel's hesitancy and its fears of losses.
39% : Both Sinwar and Nasrallah died at Israel's hands in the subsequent war.
39% : Israel is determined to prevent this by all available means.
38% : They are, firstly, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who chose to launch an assault on Israel from Gaza on 7 October 2023 without informing his various allies in the Iran-led regional axis.
38% : But the contest between Israel and Hezbollah is far from over.
35% : It then fought a successful fifteen-year insurgency against Israel, which resulted in the unilateral withdrawal of Jerusalem's forces from southern Lebanon in 2000.
35% : In 2006, having declined to end its war following the withdrawal six years earlier, Hezbollah again fought an inconclusive but bloody three-week conflict against Israel.
33% : Israel focused on Hamas and responded only defensively against Hezbollah until the late summer of 2024, then moved on to the offensive.

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