The News
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon intensified Monday, as Israel’s military continues to target Hezbollah. At least 100 people have been killed and more than 400 wounded, the highest death toll in the region since clashes between the Iran-backed group and Israel began last year.
The Israeli military had earlier advised civilians to evacuate from areas used by Hezbollah, a Lebanese political party and paramilitary group.
The latest exchange follows a wave of explosions of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies last week —attributed on Israel — and a deadly airstrike in Beirut Friday.
The intensifying cross-border exchanges have raised international leaders’ concerns that the region is heading toward an all-out war, with the European Union and UK calling for an urgent ceasefire.
SIGNALS
Israel is giving Hezbollah an implied ‘ultimatum’
Israel’s escalating attacks are an “attempt to break Hezbollah,” The Irish Times noted. The strikes targeting the Iran-back group in Lebanon come as Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas, with whom Hezbollah is aligned, has stagnated, The Wall Street Journal noted, giving Israel an opportunity to press north. In that shift and display of its strength, Israel is giving Hezbollah “an implied ultimatum: make a deal to pull back from Israel’s northern border, or go to war,” the Journal wrote.
Increasing international concern over wider regional conflict
As Israel and Hezbollah traded fire over the weekend, several international leaders called for an immediate ceasefire. European Union Vice President Josep Borrell warned that “civilians on both sides are paying an enormous price,” US President Joe Biden said his administration was “pushing hard” to prevent a regional war, with the White House maintaining a “diplomatic solution” remains possible. However, Iran’s leadership — which backs both Hezbollah and Hamas — has accused Israel of seeking a wider conflict, AFP reported. The risk of a regional escalation “looms large,” the BBC wrote, as escalating attacks on Hezbollah may trigger responses from Iran or other aligned groups in Syria, Iraq, or Yemen: “Should that happen, Israel is likely to strike at those forces wherever they are based.”