Herb Keinon
Jerusalem Post, Sept. 17, 2024
“That message is not only for Hezbollah but also for the international community, first and foremost to the US: get Hezbollah to stand down, meaning to move significantly north of the border with Israel and cease firing missiles and drones, or Israel will indeed take the steps it has been threatening to take for months.”
At 2:36 am on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Office sent out a statement saying that the security cabinet updated the objectives of the current war to include “returning the residents of the North securely to their homes.”
The brief statement concluded: “Israel will continue to act to implement this objective.”
Fourteen hours later, hundreds of wireless pagers exploded across Lebanon and even in Damascus in the pockets and bags carried by members of Hezbollah, wounding more than 2,800 and delivering a substantial physical and morale blow to the terrorist organization.
Coincidence? Probably not.
As of Tuesday evening, Israel has not taken responsibility for the attack, which is the stuff of which action movies are made, yet Lebanon, Hezbollah, and others are pointing their fingers squarely at Israel.
If indeed Israel was behind the innovative attack, and even before it becomes clear whether this is a prelude to a much bigger Israeli military action – this sowed chaos inside Hezbollah, neutralized hundreds of their fighters for at least several days if not longer, and created disarray regarding the organization’s ability to communicate – it does demonstrate several factors:
First, the security cabinet updating the war’s aims was not without significance. [To read the full article, click here]
