High-ranking Hezbollah commanders were killed in Lebanon, and just days earlier, thousands of pagers and radios exploded there, killing dozens and injuring thousands. While Israel has not claimed responsibility for tampering with the devices, it is suspected that Israel's Mossad intelligence agency was behind the attack.
Fears of a full-scale war between Israel and the pro-Iranian Shiite militia Hezbollah are growing. And if anyone thought that it couldn't get any worse in the Middle East, they were wrong - apparently it can, comments Jan-Christoph Kitzler from ARD.
There is a difference between removing a threat and provoking an escalation
The region is headed for a further, even fiercer escalation. And the most terrible thing is that those responsible for this – and, therefore, for the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands of people - do not inadvertently cause this next catastrophe without wanting to. On the contrary, everything that is happening now is intentional - there can no longer be any doubt about that, believes the ARD correspondent in Tel Aviv.
Yes, Israel has been attacked and continues to be attacked. From the Gaza Strip, and in recent days especially strongly from Hezbollah in Lebanon. More than 150 rockets were launched in just one day, the journalist recalls. The government of Israel, and especially the tens of thousands of people who were brought to safety by the Israeli side, want these attacks to stop. And they have a right.
But there is a big difference between carefully and responsibly eliminating a specific threat and provoking new attacks leading to further escalation. Israel did just that – such as the assassination of Ismail Haniya, the head of Hamas, in the center of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Although Israel did not admit it at the time, there is no doubt that the Jewish state was responsible, writes Jan-Christoph Kitzler. Namely, indirect negotiations were previously held with Hania for a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of the Israeli hostages. From this it can be judged that the Netanyahu government clearly does not want either.
What is Israel's purpose?
And during the week, it came to the purposeful detonation of thousands of pagers and portable radios of Hezbollah. But what is the strategic goal? In the explosions in Lebanon, not only Hezbollah members were killed and wounded, but also children and civilians. One of the explosions was during a funeral. Is there a greater provocation than this? And what is the strategic goal of such an attack, asks the German journalist. The only thing that can be assumed is that Israel probably wants to involve Hezbollah in a full-scale war. There was already talk in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that Hezbollah was to be defeated. But the probability of this happening is even smaller than defeating Hamas in Gaza, comments Jan-Christoph Kitzler.
For now, both the conflict in Lebanon and the war in Gaza seem at a standstill, comments Patrick Kingsley in the “New York Times”. Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah appear unlikely to subside without a cease-fire in Gaza, and negotiations to achieve one are frozen. Both conflicts seem far from a military solution. For all its new attacks, Israel has yet to achieve a decisive military strike in Lebanon, and has failed to deliver one in Gaza, despite destroying many of Hamas's forces there. The group still holds dozens of hostages in the parts of Gaza it controls, which does not allow Israel to declare victory, the correspondent of the American media also writes.
Israel does not profit from this way of waging war
At the same time, there was no shortage of opportunities to take the right path, to de-escalate, we read in the German public media ARD. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly said that attacks on northern Israel will cease if the guns in Gaza fall silent. That is why the other countries that are trying to mediate, including the USA, insist.
Israel claims to be surrounded by enemies on all sides. But this is only partly true. Hezbollah, Hamas and the regime in Tehran do dream of destroying the Jewish state, but others in the region have signed treaties and are cooperating with Israel. However, Israel's position in the region is not strengthened by this way of waging war - and this affects its security. You can't achieve peace when you don't stop striking, concludes ARD author Jan-Christoph Kitzler.