After weeks of airstrikes against Hezbollah, which last week brought about the deaths of the terrorist group’s leader and other key officials, Israeli troops have launched group operations in Lebanon.
Officials have stressed that ground raids will target Hezbollah strongholds that threaten Israel and will not constitute a war against the Lebanese people. Yet Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, suggested in a statement that recent strikes have represented “a violation of the sovereignty of an independent country.”
Israeli officials have previously dismissed such claims, noting that they have the responsibility to “take over” areas from which missiles have been fired into Israel because of the Lebanese government’s “failure to exercise its sovereignty over Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon.”
Spanish journalist Sandro Pozzi described Borrell’s comments—in which the bloc frontman also pointed to “the right to self-defence of Israel”—as expectedly “ambiguous.”
British journalist and editor of Spiked Tom Slater also said on Tuesday that
there was always going to be some kind of reaction from … Israel since October 8th [2023], which is when Hezbollah started shelling northern Israel in solidarity with the pogromists of Hamas.
“There is,” Slater added, “no sovereign nation with the capacity to defend itself that would allow this to happen.”
Israeli officials have also accused the U.S. of endangering Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops by leaking plans for the ground operation in Lebanon. Describing the leaks on Monday as “dangerous,” the official, quoted in The Times of Israel, said that “even though the U.S. supports the operation … it is clear to us that the U.S. is worried—and therefore they outed the operation to try to limit it.”
Israel’s operation, codenamed “Northern Arrows,” has involved paratroopers and commandos from the IDF’s elite 98th division and is currently targeting southern Lebanese villages close to the border. A spokesman for the force has warned Lebanese residents against driving vehicles south of the Litani River, saying that “heavy fighting is ongoing in southern Lebanon.”
The U.S. and other Western nations have also warned Iran against directly attacking Israel in response to attacks on the Tehran-backed terrorist group. Washington defence secretary Lloyd Austin said there would be “serious consequences” if Iran ignored this message.
Hours after Israel launched its ground offensive, Hezbollah responded by firing missiles on the Mossad Israeli intelligence agency base near Tel Aviv. The missile is reported to have missed its target.
