David Daoud and Jonathan Schanzer
The Dispatch, June 20, 2024
“… the international community’s fixation on futile deals has only whetted Hezbollah’s appetite for violence.”
Let’s not mince words: The Middle East is on the precipice of the most destructive war of the region’s modern history.
This war did not begin on October 7. It actually began one day later, when Hezbollah, the most powerful proxy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, began attacking Israel. The Israelis, already on their back foot from the Hamas assault in the south of their country, struggled to gain equilibrium.
The Israeli Defense Forces began with proportional responses to Hezbollah’s unprovoked attacks. But when that failed to deter the Lebanese terror group, the IDF steadily stepped up its retaliatory strikes. This, too, has done little. Hezbollah has lost more than 300 of its senior Radwan Forces along the border. An estimated 91,000 Lebanese citizens have been forced to evacuate from southern Lebanon. Yet, Hezbollah continues to fire at Israel.
The Israelis, for their part, have been forced to evacuate roughly the same number of citizens from their northern communities. This is an unacceptable situation for Israelis across the political spectrum, and the public is demanding decisive action from the government to resolve this threat. With peaceful resolutions appearing increasingly elusive, Israel and Hezbollah are inching toward what is expected to be their bloodiest confrontation yet. .
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