MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th April, 2023) Lebanese and Israeli experts are divided on assessing the recent escalation of tensions between the two countries: whether it was just a political game of the Lebanon-based Shia movement of Hezbollah or an Iranian attempt to probe Israeli defense capabilities against the backdrop of the internal political crisis.
Dozens of rockets were launched at northern Israel from the Lebanese territory last Thursday, prompting Israel to retaliate with ground and air strikes on the Palestinian exclave of the Gaza Strip and alleged Hamas assets in southern Lebanon. According to Israeli media, the barrage from Lebanon was the largest since a 2006 military conflict between the two countries.
The Palestinian Hamas movement, which allegedly was responsible for the recent rocket barrage, acted with the approval of Hezbollah, Laura Haytayan, the Lebanese political expert in the middle East and North Africa, told Sputnik.
"There are people in Lebanon that had approved resistance (against Israel). Most of the Lebanese thought that the countries' lands indeed were occupied by Israel and Hezbollah was one of the groups that fought it until it left the territories in 2000, but the Hezbollah stayed under the pretext that there were still farms to be liberated. The group used to have the support of the general population but today Lebanese do not view it as a liberation movement but as a political force that use weapons to impose its will on the Lebanese," she said.
Haytayan stressed that the Lebanese involvement in Yaser Arafat's war against Israel was one of the causes of the 1975-1990 Civil War in Lebanon.
"Not everyone agrees on Hamas rocket shelling of Israel and it brings back very bad memories when after 1969 the Arab league approved Yaser Arafat's war against Israelis from Lebanese lands and this ended up to be one of the main causes of the civil war in Lebanon. This is not acceptable by many Lebanese," she added.
While discussing the recent tensions between Israel and Lebanon, Zeev Khanin, Israeli political expert at the Department of Political Studies in Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, told Sputnik he believed that Iran through its alleged proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah,�wanted to "feel if Israel and its defenses had been weakened by the internal crisis."
The Israelis had been protesting for months against the proposed judicial reforms in the country which undermines the Supreme Court's ability to rule laws unconstitutional taken away from it and would give the government a greater powers in the selection of judges. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced at the end of March a pause on his controversial reforms, succumbing to growing pressure after one of the biggest protests in Israel's history.
Khanin alleged that Iran could be encouraged by the Israeli internal political division and recent Saudi-Iran rapprochement brokered by China in March after years of mutual animosity giving Tehran leeway to focus on "defeating Israel."
According to the expert, Iran would be wrong if it assumes that Israeli focus on safety and security had been weakened highlighting that from Israel's perspective, the Iranian threat remains as before and therefore there is no room for it to change its approach and demands.
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinian militant group escalated last week after Israeli security forces stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest Muslim sites, in Jerusalem on Wednesday, arresting 350 Palestinians and injuring dozens. The raid drew protests from the Arab world. Palestine in a letter to the UN Security Council members highlighted that Israel must be pressured to ensure full respect for the historic and legal status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The violence in the region comes amid the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which coincided this year with the Jewish holiday of Passover. Israeli military chief Hertzi Halevi said on Friday that Israel would continue to use force as much as necessary, "against any enemy and in any arena" regardless of holidays or the internal crisis.
