The Palestinian “Tet Offensive” – 2 – The Hezbollah Factor

Hezbollah soldiers in S. Lebanon preparing for war (RaielYoum)

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(note: At the current moment fighting rages on in S. Israel between Palestinian fighters and the Israeli military. Missiles are flying into Israel not only from Gaza but from S. Lebanon and some apparently from Syria (according to one personal sources). Israeli airstrikes against civilian targets have killed 1200 and continue. The death toll on both the Israeli and Palestinian side of the fighting continues to rise every day. Although it has not at the time of this writing happened, news reports confirm that Israel is sending a large number of troops to the border fence with Gaza and are poised for a ground invasion, which all indications suggest that the Netanyahu government has gotten “the green light’ for such a Gaza invasion from the Biden Administration, The Biden Administration deleted calls for “moderation on both sides” and for a ceasefire from its State Department webpage and sent two huge aircraft carrier fleets – one the USS Gerald R. Ford, the other the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to the region. 

Should Israel’s ground offensive into Gaza proceed, the Lebanese group Hezbollah, a respected and tough Israeli foe, has promised to open a second front to the fighting between S. Lebanon and Northern Israel, resulting in a more explosive and wider war. What follows here is an article from the Arabic website “Rai El Youm” on the prospects of Hezbollah entering the war. It’s publisher is the highly respected Gaza-born Palestinian journalist Abdel Bari Adwan, interviewed here several days ago by former British parliamentarian, and now podcaster, George Galloway. The article comes from this website and then is translated into English using “Google Translate” … which is a pretty decent translation.

I post it because one rarely hears or reads anything in the mainstream media that is objective about Hezbollah. RJP)

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RaielYoum – October 11, 2023

Hezbollah is preparing for the big war

Hezbollah is preparing for the big war and preparing its fighters and missiles for the zero hour… deliberate steps and dealing with caution with the heated developments. The entry of the Israeli army into Gaza by land will be the major turning point.

Beirut – (Reuters) – Sources familiar with Hezbollah’s way of thinking said that the Lebanese group has been moving cautiously since the outbreak of the war between Hamas and Israel, as it distracts Israeli forces with attacks on the Lebanese border, but does not open a large front.

The group is on alert for war by deploying special forces and preparing its missiles in preparation for the possibility of war.

The sources said that tensions are higher than at any time since its war with Israel in 2006. Three Hezbollah fighters have already been killed.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Palestinian allies of Hezbollah, also entered the fray, attacking Israel from Lebanon for the first time, including a cross-border infiltration on Monday that the Israeli army says killed three of its soldiers and two gunmen.

Hezbollah does not rule out war, but sources say that its movements so far are intended to be limited in scope, preventing it from spreading significantly into Lebanon while distracting Israeli forces in northern Israel. One of the sources, on condition of anonymity, said that Hezbollah is launching strikes here and there and responding to Israeli fire on Lebanon while closely monitoring the situation in the Gaza Strip and the south.

Hezbollah does not rule out war, but sources say that its movements so far are intended to be limited in scope, preventing it from spreading significantly into Lebanon while distracting Israeli forces in northern Israel. One of the sources, on condition of anonymity, said that Hezbollah is launching strikes here and there and responding to Israeli fire on Lebanon while closely monitoring the situation in the Gaza Strip and the south.

The source said that Hezbollah is dealing with matters “day by day.”

The outbreak of a major war between Israel and Hezbollah, which has been wracked by wars across the region, including Syria, may force the Israeli army to fight on two fronts, at a time when it wants to crush Hamas, about 200 kilometers away in Gaza.

Hamas ignited the war on Saturday after its militants infiltrated Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping dozens of others. Israel’s bombing of Gaza has led to the death of 1,055 Palestinians so far.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard founded Hezbollah in 1982 to fight the Israeli forces that invaded Lebanon. The Lebanese group is a model for other groups supported by Tehran in the region, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The United States warned Iran against interference and sent an aircraft carrier group to be near Israel in the eastern Mediterranean, describing this as a “strong message of deterrence” to prevent the conflict from expanding.

A senior Lebanese politician and a UN source said that the US ambassador to Lebanon and other Western officials informed Lebanese state officials that Hezbollah should not get involved in the war. The US Embassy referred Reuters to the State Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hezbollah did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mohannad Haj Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center said Hezbollah’s next steps will be decided based on Israel’s plans to launch a ground offensive in Gaza.

He added that the possibility of Hamas receiving a fatal blow “will push Hezbollah to intervene with the Palestinian factions in Lebanon and exacerbate the possibility of things getting out of control.”

Hezbollah said it was in direct contact with Palestinian activists in Gaza and expressed its support for them.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, known for his threats against Israel in impassioned video speeches, has not spoken since the violence began on Saturday.

The sources said that he is following events in Gaza and the south around the clock.

Earlier this year, Hezbollah invited the media to watch the Special Radwan Force carry out a maneuver simulating an invasion of northern Israel.

Israel has always considered Hezbollah the biggest threat on its borders. The 2006 war resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 157 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Lebanon took years to rebuild after the 2006 war, and it cannot afford another war after four years of a financial crisis that impoverished many Lebanese and paralyzed the state.

An all-out war is likely to hinder efforts to explore for oil and gas in the sea off Lebanon, efforts for which Hezbollah has expressed strong support. Last year, the group did not oppose an American-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel to demarcate the disputed maritime border.

Ibrahim Al-Amin, editor-in-chief of the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which supports Hezbollah, wrote today, Wednesday, saying, “If the enemy (Israel) decides to expand the battle to displace the people of the Gaza Strip, or carry out a crazy act against the resistance forces in the Strip, things will witness a major change.”

Palestine Tet – 1 – Washington’s Response