Within hours, Israel assassinated the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, and a senior military commander of Hezbollah, Fuad Shokr. That these executions, which took place on July 30 and 31, happened in Tehran and southern Beirut respectively signal Israel’s willingness to violate Iranian and Lebanese sovereignty and provoke both actors in pursuit of its strategic aims, even if doing so risks wider war. Israel’s attack was the second on Beirut’s southern suburbs since October 7, following the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy chief of Hamas’s political bureau. Despite this, Hezbollah has exercised restraint, evidenced in its avoidance of attacks on Israeli cities or civilians.
These assassinations also came a few days after an Israeli attack on Yemen’s Hodeidah port that killed nine in retaliation for a drone strike launched by the Houthis, a Yemeni political movement allied to Tehran, that killed an Israeli in Tel Aviv. The Houthis, who continue to halt and seize ships passing through the Gulf of Aden, have threatened further attacks in response to the Israeli strike.
Accordingly, the G7 ministerial meeting held on August 4 expressed fears of “a regionalization of the crisis, starting with Lebanon” and called on all parties to avoid escalation. The United States, France, Great Britain, and other Western states have even called on their nationals to leave Lebanon as quickly as possible, and in Lebanon, outgoing prime minister Najib Mikati and several ministers of his cabinet held a series of meetings to assess the state of preparedness of the administrations in the event of a widening war.
These regional tensions are growing against the backdrop of Israel’s genocidal war, which has claimed the lives of more than…
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Auteur: Joseph Daher
