The latest Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Hezbollah’s retaliation to them have revealed a new shift in the war.
Israel is now focusing on assassinations through precise strikes, while Hezbollah has limited its response by attacking military targets that would not lead to a full-scale war, said Lebanese parliamentary sources.
Israel has expanded its strikes to reach 12 kilometers into Lebanese territory and has kept up its assassinations.
The latest target was the southern Lebanon commander of Hezbollah's aerial unit, Ali Hussein Barji.
Hezbollah denied those claims, saying in a statement on Tuesday "the commander was never subjected to any assassination attempt as the enemy claimed."
Israeli military chief spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Barji had led dozens of drone attacks on Israel, as Israel and Hezbollah have been waging their deadliest hostilities in 17 years.
Israel has carried out two assassinations in Lebanon in a week. Last week it killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri in a strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs of Dahieh, a Hezbollah stronghold.
On Monday, it killed Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil, the most senior party officer to die in the fighting. It targeted his vehicle in the town of Khirbet Silem.
An officer in the group's elite Radwan force, Tawil had played a leading role in directing Hezbollah operations in south Lebanon and had been previously deployed to Syria, where the group has supported Damascus in the war.
Tawil’s funeral was held on Tuesday shortly ahead of which Israel launched a strike against a vehicle in Khirbet Silem, wounding four people and allegedly killing Barji.
Hezbollah struck Israeli military targets in retaliation to Arouri and Tawil’s assassinations. On Saturday, it said it had hit a key Israeli observation post in Mount Meron with 62 rockets as a "preliminary response" to Arouri's killing.
On Tuesday, Hezbollah attacked the Israeli army headquarters in Safed, northern Israel, with explosive drones deployed from Lebanon, hitting the position for the first time.
The latest developments indicate that the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is taking a new turn after it was initially limited to cross-border fire, said military experts.
The Lebanese people fear the Israeli assassinations may be aimed at luring Hezbollah to make a response that could lead to the widening of the conflict, going against American demands that the war remain contained to Gaza.
A parliamentary source, who has been following international contacts related to Lebanon, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hezbollah has, so far, limited its responses to Israel to military targets, noting its attacks on Mount Meron and Safed.
Such attacks are unlikely to lead to the widening of the conflict, it added.
This has not prevented Israel from carrying out attacks deeper into Lebanese territory.
Since the beginning of the week, it struck the region of al-Ghandourieh, 12 kms deep into Lebanon, killing three Hezbollah members. On Tuesday, it hit Khirbet Silem, 10 kms deep.
