The Washington Post: Israel violently bombs Hezbollah’s strong hold… but its main ally is reluctant to intervene
The Washington Post said that the air strikes launched by Israel on the Lebanese Hezbollah, one of Iran’s most important allies in the Middle East, are painful and have caused it the heaviest losses, but Iran is still hesitant to intervene on its side, contenting itself with rhetorical support and seeking to communicate with the West.
The American newspaper explained in its report that Hezbollah, during the 11 months of showing its support for Hamas in Gaza, has suffered the most severe losses in its four-decade history, as its leaders were eliminated, its ammunition was destroyed, and its communications were endangered due to the attacks that took place last week, which turned pagers and radios into bombs.
Israel launched a massive strike on Friday, targeting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to information provided by Israel to the United States after the attack that destroyed residential buildings and injured dozens of people, which the Iranian embassy in Beirut described as a dangerous escalation that changes the rules of the game.
But beyond rhetorical support, the paper says, Iran hasn’t joined the fighting, and its foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said this week that Hezbollah is fully capable of defending itself, Lebanon and the Lebanese people.
Analysts and diplomats say Iran’s focus on engagement and reluctance to intervene on the ground illustrate the limited military options available to re-establish deterrence with Israel after a year of escalating hostilities in the region.
The Washington Post pointed out that a number of Hezbollah fighters were killed and their equipment was destroyed.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that more than 600 people, including more than 50 children, were killed in the Israeli air strikes that forced tens of thousands of civilians to leave their homes, leading to a humanitarian crisis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the bombing to continue, telling the UN General Assembly that “we will continue to humiliate Hezbollah until all our goals are achieved”.
He focused much of his speech on Iran, accusing it of bringing a dark future of despair to the region.
The Washington Post newspaper stated that Hezbollah, which was founded in the 1980s, has developed into the most powerful armed force in Lebanon thanks to decades of Iranian patronage, noting that this long relationship is one of the reasons why analysts don’t believe that Iran will abandon Hezbollah.
The Washington Post newspaper concluded that Hezbollah was, before Israel launched its attack on Monday, in a state of chaos after the explosion of thousands of pagers and radios it uses, last week which was a huge and painful blow to Hezbollah.
