Death of key commander in Hezbollah sparks unease
Israeli fighter jets attacked Hezbollah infrastructure targets in Lebanon on Monday as Israel threatened to expand a brutal war with Hamas that has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians and left the Gaza Strip in ruins.
The clash came as Hezbollah said one of its top commanders was killed in Lebanon. Wissam Hassan Al-Tawil, who led a unit Israel says has been working to infiltrate its northern border, was killed in a strike on his SUV in southern Lebanon.
The military said its foray into Lebanon followed an anti-tank missile launched from Lebanese territory toward Kiryat Shmona, an Israeli city of 22,000 people near the Lebanon border and about 115 miles north of Tel Aviv. The attacks came a day after Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military chief of staff, said Israel’s efforts to curtail missile attacks from Lebanon would be successful “or we will get to another war.”
Lower-intensity fighting along Israel’s northern border broke out when Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza. The attack killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and about 250 people were taken hostage.
Israel promises to hunt down all Oct. 7 attackers
In response to the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre, Israel last week promised a repeat of the covert “Wrath of God” assassination campaign launched after the deadly Palestinian attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Mossad is “committed to settling accounts with the murderers,” said David Barnea, chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
“Once you are hunting down those people and they are mostly busy with trying to save their skin, they are less available to deal with planning, executing and coordinating terror attacks,” former Israeli intelligence official Avi Melamed said.
Blinken visits UAE; pope calls for two-state solution
Secretary of State Antony Blinken opened his third day of meetings Monday aimed at preventing Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza from exploding into a broader regional conflict.
Blinken met with United Arab Emirates leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed before a scheduled trip to Saudi Arabia for talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aimed at enlisting the key Arab leaders in a push to not only keep the war contained but also prepare for post-conflict Gaza’s future.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis has again urged the international community to pursue a two-state solution to end the conflict. In his annual State of the World address to the diplomatic corps in the Vatican, the pope said the attack by Hamas led to the horror unfolding in Gaza that has “caused an exceptionally grave humanitarian crisis and inconceivable suffering” for Palestinians. Civilians should not be viewed as “collateral damage” but as adults and children who lose their lives, he said.
“I renew my appeal for a cease-fire on every front, including Lebanon, and the immediate liberation of all the hostages held in Gaza’” the pope said. “I ask that the Palestinian people receive humanitarian aid, and that hospitals, schools and places of worship receive all necessary protection.”