On June 14, Israel carried out a targeted strike on a Hezbollah command center located on the second floor of a civilian building in the Al-Ghobeiry area of Dahieh. According to local reports, there were casualties.
The strike was conducted following a series of UAV incursions into Israeli territory over the past three days (Arab al-Aramsheh, Metula, and Shlomi), as well as a ground infiltration by a Hezbollah operative near Margaliot on June 9.
The previous strike in Dahieh took place on June 7 against a Hezbollah command center operating from a civilian apartment in the Tahwitat al-Ghadir area, after Hezbollah launched two rockets that crossed into Israeli territory. Following that strike, Iran launched several barrages of ballistic missiles toward Israel.
Hezbollah is acting on Iran’s behalf to challenge Israel’s response policy while negotiations between the United States and Iran are taking place simultaneously.
From Iran’s perspective, the optimal scenario would be a significant escalation in the Lebanese arena that would lead to the collapse of the ongoing negotiations between the United States and Iran (buying Iran more time) and also the collapse of the negotiations between Israel and Lebanon (under U.S. auspices).
All of this would, in their view, create a wedge and increased tension between Israel and the United States. In that way, Iran would benefit regardless of the outcome.
One Response
Dear Tal,
Although I fully approve hitting all hezbollah command and control targets, some others have voiced skepticism that the building was vacant of terrorists? The more you can identify terrorists taken out per target the better the perceived justification for strikes. Just a reminder that the USA reserves the right to strike terrorists wherever they go. Israel must do the same, perhaps even more so due to the larger ratio of terrorist attacks upon Israel. I was under ballistic missile attack in Jerusalem last year. We have never experienced anything like that in the USA.