Expert analysis — After the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent war against Hamas, the United States and other countries have been concerned that Israel might open a second front against another of its greatest enemies: Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Over the past ten days, Israel has done just that. The bombing campaign has now hit hundreds of Hezbollah targets, starting with pager and radio explosions that killed 36 people and injured more than 3,000 last week. Although they took military assets, they also killed many Lebanese civilians. The Israel Defense Forces said it struck Hezbollah’s central command center in Beirut on Friday, killing Muhammad Ali Ismail, the commander of a Hezbollah missile unit in southern Lebanon. There have been conflicting reports about the fate of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israeli sources said it was the largest attack on Beirut since the 2006 Lebanon war, and Israeli officials are warning that an Israeli ground invasion could be next. As news of the Beirut strike spread on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the region faces a “critical moment with serious consequences for its people now and for years to come.”
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