by Jonathan Spyer, The Spectator April 24, 2024
On Tuesday, Hezbollah launched its deepest attack into Israel since the current round of hostilities between Jerusalem and the Iran-supported Islamist group began last October. Sirens sounded in the town of Acre as drones and rockets were launched at what pro-Hezbollah media described as ‘military targets’ between Acre and Nahariya. There were no casualties. In response, Israeli aircraft struck at Hezbollah targets across the border.
Hezbollah’s decision to strike further south appear to have come in response to the targeted killing by Israel of one of the movement’s senior commanders the previous day. Mohammed Khalil Atiyeh, a senior member of the organisation’s elite Radwan Force from the village of Sarfand in southern Lebanon, was killed in a targeted attack in the Arsoun area, on the night of 22 April.
Atiyeh, described in the death notice issued by Hezbollah as a ‘martyr jihadi’ killed ‘on the road to Jerusalem’, was the 287th Hezbollah member acknowledged by the movement to have died since 8 October. A second notable operative, Hussein Azkol, was killed on Tuesday morning in an IDF attack on Adlon, a village close to the border. Azkol was described in an IDF statement following his killing as ‘a significant terrorist operative in Hezbollah’s Aerial Defense Unit.’ Hezbollah’s own announcement depicted the slain fighter in identical terms to those used for Atiyeh. Azkol is the 288th Hezbollah man to merit such terms since October.
The details of the latest exchange of fire cast considerable light on the current state of the situation between Israel and its Lebanese enemy. On the one hand, tactically, Israel can derive a certain satisfaction from the daily dynamic. Hezbollah is being significantly bled, haemorrhaging senior and experienced operators.
As previous commented: https://www.israpundit.org/oct-7-and-april-14-watershed-moments-for-israel/ , the presence of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon is a large scale betrayal by the UNSC, the USA, the EU and all the others that committed to a demilitarized zone south of the Litani River in UNSC resolution 1701. This betrayal is ongoing and it seems that the whole world is waiting for Israel to clean up the mess and restore the occupation so that they can complain as before and demand that Israel take care of the civilian population and the remaining Hezbollah operatives. Israel should clear out the whole population whether civilian or militant since there is no way to differentiate between them.