Israel Increases Airstrikes in Southern Lebanon

What Happened?

Israel struck several targets in southern Lebanon on Saturday, claiming to have hit key Hezbollah facilities and to have killed a number of Hezbollah commanders. The Israeli military announced it had conducted an operation which located and killed Hassan Muhammad Hammoudi, whom the Israeli Defense Force said was a Hezbollah commander operating in the southern portion of Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Ministry of Health reported an unspecified number of casualties near the village of Kounine, which is not far from the Israeli border. Hezbollah’s current top leader, Naeem Qassem, vowed to continue fighting against Israel despite the recent airstrikes. 

Why it Matters

The strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon commenced not long after Israel ceased its air campaign against Iran, indicating that the bulk of Israel’s Air Force is now free to conduct strikes in other locations. Israel’s Air Force conducted hundreds of strikes against Iran, an effort which put a considerable strain on the capable but relatively small air force. That Israeli jets so quickly turned to attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon after Iran suggests they suffered little to no damage from air operations against the Iranian regime.

Hezbollah has suffered considerable losses in Lebanon due to an ongoing series of effective attacks by the Israeli Defense Force. Airstrikes include both drones and manned aircraft which have proven deadly against Hezbollah’s facilities near Israel’s border. The new strikes on Saturday suggest Hezbollah was trying to reconstitute its forces near the Israeli border, and that Israel did not want to allow them to do so. 

Despite the effective airstrikes, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire along the Israeli – Lebanese border during the past week, which could become the next main focus area of Israel’s military forces. The Israel Defense Forces issued a statement saying its fighter jets had targeted a ‘significant underground project’ used by Hezbollah in the Beaufort Ridge in southern Lebanon. The site was ‘completely taken out of use’ following the strikes, the IDF said.

The display of air power by the Israeli Air Force has been historic. Never before has Israel’s Air Force inflicted so much devastation and defeat on so many of its enemies in a single span of time. In Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, Israel has achieved complete air supremacy, meaning it can conduct airstrikes without any opposition from enemy forces. Hezbollah, like Iran, still has a number of hardened and underground facilities at its disposal, and these will likely be the next sites targeted by Israel.

How it Affects You

The strikes against Lebanon mean that even though Israel and Iran have, for the moment, ceased hostilities, the war between Israel and Hezbollah, along with Hamas in Gaza, is still very much underway. U.S. forces in the Middle East are likely to remain on their highest levels of alert for the next several weeks, if not months.