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Israel is preparing for a new war – and this one could force USA to join
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signalled that his armed forces will shortly shift the focus of its military activities north to its border with Lebanon.
Earlier this week he said that the “intense phase of fighting Hamas in Gaza is nearly over”. The war in Gaza may be slowly winding down, but it has definitely not ended. The IDF is finalising its current operations in Rafah in the south and will turn to a raid-based strategy rather than a wholescale invasion, much as it has done in the rest of Gaza.
The drawdown in operations will allow the IDF to thin out and commit its troops elsewhere.
Hamas has not been defeated but has been severely mauled, and its military potential much reduced and degraded. It now looks as if Israel will be content to maintain an acceptable level of violence in Gaza for the foreseeable future while it continues to hunt down and eliminate the surviving Hamas leadership “by other means”.
Hezbollah, Hamas’ ally in south Lebanon, has vowed to continue to lob missiles into northern Israel until peace comes to Gaza, a prospect still some way in the future if it ever comes to pass. And so now Israel has to confront its enemy in the north.
Hezbollah is a much more dangerous enemy than Hamas. While the latter could field perhaps 30,000 fighters in Gaza at the start of the conflict there, Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah once boasted that he could call upon 100,000 trained fighters.
See Also:
UN tells Israel it will suspend aid operations across Gaza without improved safety
Canada has abandoned Israel with regard to Hezbollah
Netanyahu says Israel is winding down its Gaza operations. But he warns a Lebanon war could be next
Iran’s Supreme Leader threatens sole reformist in presidential race, calling for ‘maximum’ turnout
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