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Alameen Templeton
The assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the weekend has left Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu cock-a-hoop, determined to press ahead aggressively on all fronts, with promises of Gaza peace deals floating like forgotten flotsam in his bloody wake.
Iran has called for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting, while threatening retaliation and trying to rally the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, as it considers the security implications of the assassination.
Israel has clearly infiltrated Hezbollah’s command structure, as evident from the pager and walkie talkie attacks and now a strike right into the resistance group’s inner sanctum, taking out its top leader with what appears to have been a 2000-pound bomb strike.
Teheran tiptoeing to retaliation
The strike also killed Brigadier General Abbas Nilforushan, the Revolutionary Guard’s commander for operations, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed Sunday.
Crucially, he did not mention a military option when vowing Sunday Iran would utilise all its political, diplomatic, judicial and international powers to confront Israel.
Teheran has shown itself extremely loath to venture an all-out confrontation with Israel that will put its own people, territory and infrastructure at risk. It has yet to avenge the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh two months ago, despite its promises and threats.
And the United States must be reconsidering its options as Tel Aviv shakes off all public attempts by the White House to restrain it. Washington was apparently working on a 21-day ceasefire deal before the Nasrallah assassination, but that has now been blown out of the water.
Celebrating murder
Netanyahu crowed Saturday Nasrallah’s killing was “a historical turning point that could change the balance of power in the Middle East”, the UK’s Guardian reports.
“Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“Nasrallah’s killing was a necessary step toward achieving the goals we have set, returning residents of the north safely to their homes and changing the balance of power in the region for years to come.”
Whose hands are on the reins of the fractured US-Israeli relationship is debateable. At the moment, it appears the US has little choice but to follow Israel’s lead, as its ploughs its bloody furrow, its course determined not by interests, but by opportunities to assassinate and plot.
US president Joe Biden has obediently lined up behind Netanyahu’s escalation, describing Nasrallah’s assassination as “a measure of justice for his many victims.
He showed no inclination or ability to call Israel to order, regurgitating the standard US response to murder: the US “fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself”.
No threats were made to restrict arms supplies, or that “red lines” were being drawn, or that “there’s growing impatience with Tel Aviv”. Instead, Biden simply ordered his military to prepare to support Israel, no matter what it does next.
Al-Jazeera is reporting Monday Israel is “feeling invincible” following strikes on several fronts.
Widening the war
Its Foreign Minister Israel Katz is adamant Tel Aviv will not agree to a ceasefire in Lebanon. “The only way that is acceptable for Israel to stop the fire is to move Hezbollah north of the Litani and disarm it,” he told Kan, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation.
On Monday, Israel bombed the Kola area of Beirut, extending for the first time its attacks on the Lebanese capital beyond the southern suburbs, killing three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group.
Al-Mayadeen reports the PFLP announced the martyrdom of three cadres, Mohammed Abdel Aal, Imad Awda, and Abdul Rahman Abdel Aal.
Israel followed up the Nasrallah assassination with a massive airstrike involving dozens of warplanes on Sunday against targets in Yemen after the Houthis had targeted Tel Aviv with three missiles in preceding days.
The strikes killed four and wounded 29 others, Houthi officials said. The Jerusalem Post claimed oil facilities and a weapons depot were targeted.
“The killing of Nasrallah marks a major moment in the crisis in the Middle East and threatens to reshape the course of events in the region where he was a significant actor,” The Guardian says.
Rallying the stormtroopers
After Israel’s assassination Friday, the streets of Beirut emptied. Gunfire could be heard across the city as supporters fired in the air to commemorate his death. Storefronts were mostly closed.
The Lebanese army deployed throughout Beirut at the weekend, standing guard at major intersections throughout the city. Lines formed at supermarkets as people rushed to buy basic goods, and masses withdrew cash from ATMS. Low-flying Israeli drones buzzed overhead throughout the weekend.
IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi vowed airstrikes would continue as the Israeli Wehrmacht activated three battalions of reserve soldiers and dispatched two brigades to northern Israel to prepare for a ground invasion of Lebanon.
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