HEZBOLLAH AND ISRAEL AT RISK OF ALL-OUT CONFLICT

▶ Time running out for negotiations to halt border violence, Gantz warns

Israel has warned time is running out to find a diplomatic solution to cross-border violence with Hezbollah, as fears grow that the clashes could escalate into all-out war.

The Lebanese militia group has traded fire with Israel since October 8, in an attempt to divert its military from its assault on the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas, which governs Gaza and also receives Iranian backing.

Senior Israeli minister Benny Gantz visited his country’s border with Lebanon and said the situation in the region “demands change”.

He said there was a possibility that Israel could increase its military operations against Hezbollah if the cross-border violence continued.

“The stopwatch for a diplomatic solution is running out,” he said.

“If the world and the Lebanese government don’t act to prevent the fire towards northern communities and to distance Hezbollah from the border, the [Israeli army] will do it.”

Allies of Israel, including the US and France, have tried to negotiate a deal that would lead to Hezbollah’s fighters retreating north of the Litani River, in southern Lebanon.

The proposal was reportedly in exchange for territorial concessions by Israel, but Hezbollah has rejected the terms.

But as western officials increase efforts to enforce the long-neglected UN Security Council’s Resolution 1701 – which calls for Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory and for Hezbollah to disarm – the crisis continues to escalate.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah fired its largest volley of rockets and drones into Israel since the conflict began.

The attack was launched in “response to the Israeli enemy’s repeated crimes and its targeting of civilian homes in Bint Jbeil”, in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah said.

An attack on a residence in the town killed one Hezbollah fighter and two civilians – the militant’s brother and his sister-in-law.

About 150 people have been killed in Lebanon since cross-border strikes began.

That death toll mostly comprises Hezbollah fighters and members of allied Palestinian groups, but at least 19 civilians have also been killed.

The Israeli death toll is reportedly nine soldiers and four civilians, although the number could be higher because the military does not typically disclose casualty figures relating to the border conflict.

No casualties were reported after the strikes on Wednesday, during which at least 50 Katyusha rockets were fired at the northern Israeli settlements of Kiryat Shmona and Rosh Hanikra.

But the attack is regarded as a warning to Israel that further civilian deaths would lead to retaliation.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned in November that Israeli strikes in Lebanon would lead to a cost of “a civilian for a civilian”.

Hezbollah has been relatively restrained since it began its attacks on Israel, striking mostly military targets and seemingly remaining wary of a full-scale war in Lebanon.

Although largely confined to border areas, Israel has intensified its retaliatory strikes and

has occasionally struck deeper into southern Lebanon.

In recent weeks, Israel has also increased the intensity of its stance against Hezbollah, saying the militia’s presence along its northern border will not be tolerated.

Hezbollah started as an insurgency in the 1980s but has since become embedded in Lebanon’s government and parliament as a political party.

The Iran-backed group also operates a paramilitary commonly thought to be stronger than the Lebanese army. It seeks to balance its political gains while attempting to provide military support to Hamas in Gaza.

The escalation of the cross-border exchanges follows the assassination of a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Damascus, which Iran has attributed to Israel.

The daily shelling has displaced more than 72,000 people in Lebanon from their homes along the border, according to the International Organisation for Migration, as well as tens of thousands in Israel.

Last week, the World Bank warned that Lebanon’s economy, which had been on a recovery path after years of turmoil, is projected to be dragged back into a recession as a result of the conflict, and that the damage may be permanent if the fighting escalates.

“A significant escalation of the conflict would also permanently scar Lebanon’s growth potential and carry grave economic implications,” the World Bank said.