Hezbollah threatens regional conflict if Gaza bombardment continues

 Hezbollah threatens regional conflict if Gaza bombardment continues

Israel's massacre of civilians in Gaza, according to the second in command of Hezbollah, the potent organization in Lebanon supported by Iran, poses a threat to a broader Middle East conflict.

The BBC was informed by Sheikh Naim Qassem that "very serious as well as very dangerous developments might arise in the region, and no-one would be competent to stop the repercussions".

Speaking in a Beirut interview, the deputy head of Hezbollah was responding to reports in Gaza that over 10,000 people had died at the hands of Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel's strike comes after 1,400 people were murdered on October 7th by Hamas, 1,000 of them were civilians.

"The danger is real," he said, citing Israel's escalating hostility against civilians and the number of women and children it is murdering. Is it feasible for this to go on and become worse without really endangering the area? I doubt it.

He maintained that Israel's actions would be the cause of any escalation. "Every possibility has a response," he said.

"The Party of God," Hezbollah, has several options.

The greatest political and military force in Lebanon is the Shia Islamist group, which the US, the UK, and the Arab League have designated as a terrorist organization.

It has been increasing warnings and carefully adjusting its measures in reaction to the Gaza War so far.

Hezbollah fired Grad rockets toward Israel for the first time in the conflict on Sunday, killing one Israeli civilian after an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon on Sunday killed a lady and three children.

Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, has promised to retaliate across the border for any civilian fatality that occurs in Lebanon. Notably, however, is that he has not threatened Israel with total war.

Although the terrorist organization maintains that "all options are on the table," it has limited its operations to cross-border assaults, mostly targeting military facilities. Although it has lost more than sixty of its combatants, it still has a large number of seasoned followers to take their place. This week, a warrior buried in Beirut became the sixth generational member of his family to die in the service of Hezbollah.

During our conversation, the deputy commander of the group attempted to present Hezbollah as a defensive entity, despite the fact that it is dedicated to destroying Israel and started a conflict with it in 2006 when it kidnapped two of its troops during a cross-border operation.

Israel, according to Sheikh Qassem, "initiated the aggression against Gaza in a hideous way".

He justified the strikes as an unavoidable reaction to Israeli control of Palestinian territory after the BBC revealed that Hamas had assaulted Israel on October 7.

He reiterated the baseless assertion that several Israeli civilians were murdered by Israeli troops, not by Hamas. But what about the Hamas fighters' own helmet cameras, which purportedly capture them going on a murderous rampage?

He sidestepped the question. "Why don't we look at what Israel has been doing inside Gaza," he said. "They kill civilians along with demolish homes."

Denying that the Hamas strikes had backfired, he referred to them as "a great result for the Palestinian resistance". What about the ten thousand Gazan deaths that have transpired since then? "The massacres committed through Israel are mobilising the Palestinians progressively more to cling to their land," he said.

Although he acknowledged that Iran "finances and supports" Hezbollah, he insisted that Iran did not issue the instructions. However, analysts assert that Tehran is the one making the decisions and will choose whether or not to launch a full-scale conflict.

Furthermore, Israeli troops will be up against an adversary with access to more weapons than most nations if they are forced to fight Hezbollah on two fronts. The extremist organization, with an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles, dwarfs Hamas.

Hezbollah may have as many as 60,000 fighters, including regulars, special forces, and reserves, according to Nicholas Blanford, a defense and security analyst based in Beirut who has spent decades researching the organization.

The organization had brought Israel to a halt in 2006, but Lebanon suffered much more casualties. Over a thousand individuals were killed, the majority of them were civilians, and in Hezbollah strongholds, whole neighborhoods were destroyed. 44 civilians and 121 soldiers died for Israel.

Since then, Lebanon has seen a series of catastrophic events, including the disastrous explosion at Beirut Port in 2020, the country's economic collapse, and the political system's dissolution. No surprise so few people in this place are eager for conflict.

Many fear that this nation may be drawn into an unaffordable conflict as a result of Hezbollah's cross-border strikes. Sheikh Qassem makes no excuses. "It's the right of any Lebanese to be afraid of war," he said. "That is typical. Everyone dislikes conflict. In order to prevent the conflicts from growing, tell the Israeli entity to cease its assault."

There could be a range of intensities to come, excepting a full-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. But Blanford claims that if it materializes, it would cause destruction everywhere.

"It's going to make what's happening in Gaza look like a walk in the park," he said to the BBC.

"During the course of the fight, Israel will be under lockdown. The majority of its people will have to stay inside bomb shelters," he said.

"Neither marine nor civil aviation would exist. Larger guided missiles from Hezbollah may strike military locations all around the nation."

He said Israel will turn Lebanon into "a car park" with regards to Lebanon.

As former rivals evaluate the current situation, Hezbollah, Israel, and Iran are now being cautious.

That is not to say that there won't be an all-out conflict; if not by accident, then by intent.

In a land where blood has been shed, this is a perilous new chapter. The only things that seem guaranteed after October 7th are more suffering, fatalities, and devastation.