shared by the Lebanese state-run National News Agency<\/a> that Israel did not “cause any significant harm to the strong structure of the Lebanese Hezbollah.”<\/p>\n“All resistance forces in the region stand beside Hezbollah and support it,” Khamenei said, calling for all Islamic fighters to stand with the Lebanese militant group.<\/p>\n
Iran on Saturday called for a special meeting of the intergovernmental organization, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which is dominated by Muslim-majority countries, to address the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.<\/p>\n
Burcu Ozcelik, a senior research fellow for Middle East security at the Royal United Services Institute said Hezbollah was Iran’s “strategically significant asset and main deterrent against Israel.”<\/p>\n
“This has been severely degraded now and how Iran chooses to respond will be highly consequential as the conflict evolves,” he said in an email statement.<\/p>\n
“Hezbollah will not vanish overnight as a significant actor inside Lebanon and the region despite the pummelling it has endured,” he added. “The militant group may believe it is no longer restrained given the targeting of its senior command structure, and that it must act decisively otherwise it may not survive.”<\/p>\n
The Israeli strike Friday comes after intense escalation in the 11-month conflict with Hezbollah, which began firing over the border at Israel in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas a day after the war in Gaza broke out on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n
Israel has pounded Hezbollah with airstrikes, killing more than 500 people in a Monday attack and earlier this month detonating pagers and walkie-talkies used by the groups’ fighters, which killed at least 37 people in Lebanon and injured thousands.<\/p>\n
Israel has set a war goal of returning its some 60,000 residents displaced from the border with Lebanon.<\/p>\n
The escalation has deeply concerned the U.S., which has been pushing for months for a diplomatic deal that could resolve the crisis and prevent an all-out war. The U.S. and France led a proposal this week for a 21-day truce that would also lead to negotiations for a permanent peace, but Israel rejected it.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that it was vital for Israel to reach a diplomatic solution in Lebanon.<\/p>\n
“The question is what is the best way to achieve its objectives, to reach enduring security,” he said at a press conference Friday. “And in this instance, with regard to Lebanon, what\u2019s the best way to achieve the stated objective of creating an environment in northern Israel that gives people confidence to return to their homes? As I said, we believe the diplomatic course is the best one.”<\/p>\n
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned in a Friday interview with CNN that a Lebanon war could be much worse with “casualties that equal or exceed what we have seen in Gaza.”<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to keep fighting against Hezbollah in a Friday speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, just hours before his military conducted the operation against Hezbollah, reportedly while high-level officials were gathering in Beirut.<\/p>\n
Former Israeli Intelligence official and regional analyst Avi Melamed said Israel dealt “a significant blow to Hezbollah’s dominance in Lebanon.”<\/p>\n
“This incident offers the Lebanese\u2014previously held hostage by Hezbollah\u2014the chance to liberate themselves from Iranian influence, while also likely compelling Iran to reevaluate its plans for regional control,” he said in an email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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