The Washington Post: The Israelis fear a new type of war with Hezbollah in the north

The Washington Post reported that the crisis that Israeli settlers are suffering with the military escalation witnessed on the northern front with Hezbollah in Lebanon about 3 months ago, which caused tens of thousands of them to abandon their settlements for fear of resistance operations.

The report stated, “Although this isn’t an official war zone, Israeli artillery explosions and Hezbollah rockets echo across the mountains almost every day, and the Israeli military says Hezbollah used short-range mortars, Russian Kornet anti-tank missiles, and thermal grenades to destroy homes in Israeli kibbutzim”.

The report adds that fears of a further escalation in the region have worsened with the assassination of Hamas leader Saleh al Arouri in Beirut a few days ago, to which Hezbollah pledged to respond decisively, warning that skirmishes along this troubled border region could explode into an all-out war.

The Washington Post report confirms that Israel views Hezbollah differently from Hamas, as an army with advanced training and an arsenal of approximately 150,000 missiles, while many Israelis fear that their government will, once again, underestimate the deadly threat posed by Hezbollah.

The report pointed to the unprecedented number of Israelis who were evacuated, from the north and south, considering that the Israeli government seemed largely absent, as it took weeks for the authorities to facilitate hotel accommodation and rental agreements, and the northerners gave few answers about the situation; Their homes or a timeline for when they will be able to return.

Moshe Davidovich, head of a local council in the north, was quoted as saying, “Until October 6, we were seen as the ‘mayor’ of the Middle East, but after October 7, we are seen as having lost our ability to deter”.

He added, “Many along the northern border do not trust Netanyahu, who has told Israelis for years that Hamas has been contained in Gaza, and it will be difficult to promote similar assertions about Hezbollah here”.

The report continued that Israeli soldiers say that they fell in love with technology and forgot some very important and basic things, citing some soldiers that their units adopted low-tech solutions, relying on Israeli army strategy manuals from the 1950s and old wireless phones.

Yossi Harpaz, a sociologist at Tel Aviv University, said, “There is a shift in Israel’s perception of defense, and the role of its border cities, after October 7”.

He added, “The buffer zone now exists in our lands, in the border areas, which are now inhabited by soldiers and not civilians… October 7 was also a violation of the IDF’s doctrine, which was based on transferring the fight to enemy territory”.