Israel executed an air strike in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, against a Hezbollah leader identified as directing the missile strike, killing a dozen children in the Jerusalem-controlled Golan Heights on Saturday, July 27. The missile killing the children was one of an estimated 30 weapons fired from Lebanon into Israel. Israel Defense Force (IDF) officials said the missile that killed the youngsters was an Iranian Falzq-1, and Hezbollah is the Iranian proxy terrorist group possessing that type of missile.
Then, on July 31, the political leader of the terrorist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Presumably, this was the next step in Israel’s retaliation, though this has not been confirmed.
Israel Has a Practice of Targeted Airstrikes
The IDF attack on Beirut was the second since the airstrike in January that took out a senior Hamas leader, Saleh al-Arouri, and followed the Israeli practice of targeted airstrikes to eliminate specific enemy leadership. Israel’s retaliation targeted Hezbollah commander “Fuad Shukr, also known as Hajj Mohsin, who is a senior advisor to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah,” Fox News reported.
According to The New York Times:
“The Israeli strike, at about 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday, marked the second time that Israel had struck Beirut since Hezbollah and Israel started fighting on Oct. 8, and the first time that Israel hit a Hezbollah figure in the Lebanese capital … More than 90 minutes after the strike in Beirut, three Israeli officials said it was still not clear whether Mr. Shukr had survived … The strike hit in the vicinity of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, the group’s central decision-making authority, according to Lebanon’s state-run news agency.”
As has been the case since the beginning of the Middle East hostilities, when Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel, the US strategy has been to keep the crisis from becoming a larger war. Nonetheless, “Our support for Israel’s security remains ironclad and it’s unwavering against all Iran-backed threats, including those from Hezbollah,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the journalists at a White House press conference on July 29. “At the same time, we believe that there is still time and space for a diplomatic solution.”
Meanwhile, Israel keeps its focus squarely on its most immediate goal, defeating Hamas. To that end, early reports from Tehran reveal the IDF demonstrated its reach with an airstrike Wednesday in the Iranian capital by identifying, targeting, and killing Hamas’s key political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in what the Associated Press called a “shock assassination.” Israel vowed to kill Haniyeh and every Hamas chief responsible for last year’s Oct. 7 assault on the southern Israel kibbutzim. It seems when Israel puts you on its hit list, you should be afraid – very afraid.
According to the AP, Haniyeh had just “attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president in Tehran – and only hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran’s ally Hezbollah.” The reality and the symbolism should not be lost on the mullahs. Israel has no misperceptions about who the culprit behind the terrorist violence in the region is. The US will no doubt wring its diplomatic hands and worry such decisive action by Israel will result in a regional war with a larger confrontation between Iran and Israel. If the ineffective missile and drone raid on Israel was any indication of what Iran has, the IDF will weather this storm.
Now, the latest wrinkle in Israel’s defense of its homeland is a threat from another neighbor. “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday appeared to threaten to invade Israel in support of the Palestinians and to put an end to the nearly 10-month-old war Israel is fighting against Hamas in Gaza,” The Times of Israel reported. The inartful but direct response to the Turkish leader from Israel came in an X posting from Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who said of the Turkish president’s threat: “Erdogan follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel. Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended.”
Turkish President’s Comments Not Helpful
Erdogan injecting himself into an already tense situation was not helpful. The Turkish president walks a narrow line between being a participating member of the NATO alliance and a Middle Eastern nation with significant regional equities. His bravado, in this case, is misplaced. If Erdogan ever made good on his threat to invade Israel, it would indeed create an out-of-control regional conflict. Too many bilateral agreements, defense pacts, and alliances among the Middle East and Gulf nations would be sorely tested.
Unfortunately, as hostilities rage around Israel, the real catalyst for all of the conflict — Iran — is let off the hook. Why does the Biden administration not hold the number one sponsor of terrorism in the world responsible? Biden and his team have treated Tehran with kid gloves for too long. Iran must be held accountable, and the Israelis seem to be the only ones who get it.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliate.
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