Another war between Israel and Hezbollah?

Hezbollah fighters on patrol

Mara Karlin, writing in Foreign Affairs, says “Another war between Israel and Hezbollah is almost inevitable, Although neither side wants a conflict now…” The shifting regional balance of,power is not to Israel’s advantage. Hezbollah is expected to win many seats in the Lebanese Parliament under the new proportional representation rules. Iran and Hezbollah both have considerable forces in Syria as the result of the Syrian civil war, and the closer they are to the Israeli border, the less Israel likes it. Hezbollah’s military capabilities have grown substantially.

In these circumstances, another round of hostilities could be caused by accident, or by the actions of other parties. Israeli generals have said the next war will see them widely applying the “Dahiya Doctrine”. Whole areas will be destroyed, not just suspected Hezbollah strongholds. Civilian casualties will be much higher than before.

We remind readers of our post on 10 February, “One law for Israel and another law for everyone else in the Middle East”. Israel reserves the right to arm itself as it wishes, but consider others doing so an intolerable provocation.

Israeli Merkava tank