Lebanon Front Shifts from Gaza Support to Open Operations

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon are intensifying in severity and scope (AP)
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon are intensifying in severity and scope (AP)
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Lebanon Front Shifts from Gaza Support to Open Operations

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon are intensifying in severity and scope (AP)
Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon are intensifying in severity and scope (AP)

Military actions along the Lebanese-Israeli border are straying from the standard rules of engagement. While Hezbollah avoids large-scale operations to prevent sparking a broader conflict, Israel has surpassed previous limits set since 2006.

Tel Aviv is striking targets deep within Beirut’s suburbs, conducting assassinations, and hitting Hezbollah's facilities, even reaching the Baalbek-Hermel area near Lebanon’s borders with Syria.

Some see Hezbollah’s caution as a bid to prevent Lebanon from being dragged into a costly war. But military expert Brig. Gen. Khalid Hamadeh believes these border events reflect a shift in US-Iran relations and Iran’s evolving role in the region, illustrated by Hezbollah’s disciplined actions.

Hezbollah has been exchanging near-daily fire with Israel across Lebanon's southern border since Oct. 8, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, triggering a fierce Israeli land, air and sea offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Hamadeh notes that since Oct. 8 Iran has been distancing itself from the Gaza events, as evidenced by statements from Iranian leaders claiming ignorance of actions taken by their allies.

He also pointed out that while Israeli operations are escalating, Hezbollah’s response remains limited both in scope and scale. He emphasized that Hezbollah sticks to targeting Israeli military objectives within a 10-km radius, whereas Israel strikes whatever it deems fit without restraint.

He noted that these developments lead to a few key conclusions, chiefly that Hezbollah is constrained by Iran’s reluctance to escalate and by the specific weapons Tehran allows for use, such as anti-tank missiles and older-model rockets, without the ability to escalate further.

The situation on the ground in southern Lebanon cannot be separated from broader political and military shifts in the region.

Dr. Sami Nader, Director of the Levant Center for Strategic Affairs, connected the developments in southern Lebanon to regional escalation affecting the Lebanese-Israeli front.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Nader noted Israel’s escalation is primarily aimed at diverting attention from the devastation in Gaza, which has significantly affected global perceptions of Israel.

The clashes between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified since early October, moving from strikes in open areas to exchanges of fire targeting exposed military sites on both sides.

However, Israel has escalated further with surprise operations, including assassinations of key Hezbollah figures. The party has responded with limited strikes on Israeli military positions but hasn’t matched the intensity of Israeli attacks.

Hamadeh believes that Israel’s military and intelligence performance has shifted the battle from skirmishes to real confrontations, resulting in significant destruction and casualties on the Lebanese side.

However, he predicted that Hezbollah’s operations will continue to escalate cautiously, and Iran won't risk its influence in Lebanon until after the US presidential election.



Things to Know About the UN Special Rapporteur Sanctioned by the US

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, July 11, 2023. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, July 11, 2023. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)
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Things to Know About the UN Special Rapporteur Sanctioned by the US

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, July 11, 2023. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)
Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, talks to the media during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, July 11, 2023. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP, File)

A UN special rapporteur was sanctioned by the United States over her work as an independent investigator scrutinizing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, a high-profile role in a network of experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Francesca Albanese is among the experts chosen by the 47-member council in Geneva. They report to the body as a means of monitoring human rights records in various countries and the global observance of specific rights.

Special rapporteurs don't represent the UN and have no formal authority. Still, their reports can step up pressure on countries, while their findings inform prosecutors at the International Criminal Court and other venues working on transnational justice cases.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement announcing sanctions against Albanese on Wednesday that she “has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”

Albanese said Thursday that she believed the sanctions were “calculated to weaken my mission.” She said at a news conference in Slovenia that “I’ll continue to do what I have to do.”

She questioned why she had been sanctioned — “for having exposed a genocide? For having denounced the system? They never challenged me on the facts.”

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, called for a “prompt reversal” of the US sanctions. He added that “even in face of fierce disagreement, UN member states should engage substantively and constructively, rather than resort to punitive measures.”

Prominent expert

Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer, has developed an unusually high profile as the special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, a post she has held since May 2022.

Last week, she named several large US companies among those aiding Israel as it fights a war with Hamas in Gaza, saying her report “shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many.”

Israel has long had a rocky relationship with the Human Rights Council, Albanese and previous rapporteurs, accusing them of bias. It has refused to cooperate with a special “Commission of Inquiry” established following a 2021 conflict with Hamas.

Albanese has been vocal about what she describes as a genocide by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel and the US, which provides military support to its close ally, have strongly denied the accusation.

‘Nothing justifies what Israel is doing’

In recent weeks, Albanese issued a series of letters urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip. She also has been a strong supporter of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for allegations of war crimes.

Albanese said at a news conference last year that she has “always been attacked since the very beginning of my mandate,” adding that criticism wouldn't force her to step down.

“It just infuriates me, it pisses me off, of course it does, but then it creates even more pressure not to step back,” she said. “Human rights work is first and foremost amplifying the voice of people who are not heard.”

She added that “of course, one condemned Hamas — how not to condemn Hamas? But at the same time, nothing justifies what Israel is doing.”

Albanese became an affiliate scholar at the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University in 2015, and has taught and lectured in recent years at various universities in Europe and the Middle East. She also has written publications and opinions on Palestinian issues.

Albanese worked between 2003 and 2013 with arms of the UN, including the legal affairs department of the UN Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA, and the UN human rights office, according to her biography on the Georgetown website.

She was in Washington between 2013 and 2015 and worked for an American nongovernmental organization, Project Concern International, as an adviser on protection issues during an Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Member of a small group

Albanese is one of 14 current council-appointed experts on specific countries and territories.

Special rapporteurs, who document rights violations and abuses, usually have renewable mandates of one year and generally work without the support of the country under investigation. There are rapporteurs for Afghanistan, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, Russia and Syria.

There also are three country-specific “independent experts,” a role more focused on technical assistance, for the Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia.

Additionally, there are several dozen “thematic mandates,” which task experts or working groups to analyze phenomena related to particular human rights. Those include special rapporteurs on “torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” the human rights of migrants, the elimination of discrimination against people affected by leprosy and the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children.