Israel launches massive air strikes on Lebanon

According to RT, the Israeli army said on February 14 that it had carried out a series of attacks in Lebanon, in a move that could raise concerns about a major military confrontation between the two neighbors after months of cross-border violence.

The Israeli military did not provide further details about the airstrike, which came hours after at least one Israeli citizen was killed and eight others wounded in a rocket attack launched from Lebanon.

Footage from Lebanon circulating on social media appears to show damage in southern areas of the country from air strikes, including in Nabatieh province, which lies much further inside Lebanon than previous attacks.

Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that has fought Israeli forces almost daily since the start of the Gaza war four months ago, did not immediately claim responsibility for rocket attacks on Israel earlier on Feb.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said on February 13 that rocket fire from Lebanese territory into Israel would stop “when the attack on Gaza stops and there is a ceasefire” between their Palestinian allies and Israel.

“If they [Israel] expand the confrontation, we will do the same,” Mr. Nasrallah said on television.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have escalated since fighting broke out in Gaza on October 7, 2023. Earlier this February, the Israeli military announced that it was increasing its combat readiness along the border with Lebanon.

The Northern Reserve Paratrooper Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces conducted an exercise that included live-fire and urban combat training involving tanks, engineers, infantry and artillery. The purpose of the exercise was to improve combat readiness on the northern border. The exercise also prepared soldiers for combat in densely populated urban areas, in winter weather conditions and in northern terrain.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallan also said on January 29 that the Israeli army will soon take action in the border area with Lebanon and reserve troops will be increased to be ready for future operations.

Since the Hamas-Israel conflict erupted in Gaza on October 7 last year, the Israel-Lebanon border area has witnessed almost daily attacks between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah movement.

However, avoiding an all-out war, Hezbollah has so far refrained from using long-range, high-powered weapons, and Israel has not deployed tanks to the region. But tensions have risen significantly since the beginning of the year, and the international community fears a full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has amassed an arsenal of about 150,000 missiles and rockets, while Israel has one of the best missile defense networks in the world, but the size of Hezbollah's arsenal could completely overwhelm them. Experts say that if a full-scale war were to occur, it would cause huge casualties on both sides.

Not only does Hezbollah have a strong military potential, it is believed that it has built a tunnel system even larger than that in Gaza. The Lebanon tunnel project was developed long before the project in Gaza. Intelligence information shows that in southern Lebanon there is a large, deep, multi-directional tunnel network.

Meanwhile, the US has urged Israel not to launch a ground attack on southern Lebanon, as this could potentially spread the conflict throughout the Middle East, an already tense region with a series of hot spots of conflict.