The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday released footage of naval exercises it conducted in the Mediterranean Sea near Lebanon. It was a warning to Iran-backed Hezbollah that Israel intended to attack from sea, air and land if it did not stop firing rockets.
IDF: Israeli Navy missile ship platoon completed large-scale exercise this week
The exercise simulated a large-scale, multi-pronged battle in the northern naval arena and included cooperation between a fleet of missile ships and the Israeli Air Force. pic.twitter.com/N7107LAx0G
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) February 23, 2024
Clashes along the Israel-Lebanon border have escalated in recent weeks as Hezbollah continues to fire rockets and drones at Israel. crashed To the backyard of an Israeli civilian in the northern Arab-Jewish city of Acre.
Hezbollah began the conflict in October and began firing sporadically at Israel in support of the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas. Although Hezbollah did not launch a full-scale attack, life in northern Israel was disrupted, much to the chagrin of Hamas.
Since October, tens of thousands of Israeli residents have been evacuated from border towns such as Kiryat Shmona. Farms have been abandoned, crops lost or burned by fires caused by Hezbollah missiles that fell on open fields.
Joel B. Pollack/Breitbart News
This situation is unacceptable to Israel. Israel has so far limited its response to each fire incident from Lebanon, but Israeli leaders have vowed to go to war in Lebanon if a diplomatic solution is not found.
They enjoy strong support from the Israeli public, even though a war with Hezbollah would probably result in more casualties than the war in Gaza.recent polls Indicated 71% of Israelis support attacking Hezbollah to push it back from the border area.
Under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah is not allowed to have a presence near the country’s borders. However, the UN has failed to enforce the resolution, allowing Hezbollah to invade.
Ironically, the ordinary people of Israel and Lebanon do not want to go to war with each other. Many Lebanese feel that the Shiite militia Hezbollah is dragging the country into the conflict in the interests of local suzerain Iran.
The US is trying to reach a compromise. US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein is reportedly trying to strike a deal under which Israel would withdraw its troops from its borders if Hezbollah did the same. It is highly unlikely that such an agreement will be reached after October 7th.
Hochstein brokered an indirect agreement between Lebanon and the former Israeli government in 2021 in which Lebanon gained access to Israel’s newly discovered offshore gas fields. The agreement was intended to prevent war. It clearly falls far short.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. He is the author of the recent book, The Zionist Conspiracy (And How to Participate in It), now available on Audible. He is also the author of an e-book. Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 US Presidential Election. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
