New ‘Theatrical’ Clash between Hezbollah, Israel Reflects Anxiety to Maintain Rules of Engagement

Smoke rises as seen from Marjeyoun, near the border with Israel, Lebanon August 4, 2021. (Reuters)
Smoke rises as seen from Marjeyoun, near the border with Israel, Lebanon August 4, 2021. (Reuters)
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New ‘Theatrical’ Clash between Hezbollah, Israel Reflects Anxiety to Maintain Rules of Engagement

Smoke rises as seen from Marjeyoun, near the border with Israel, Lebanon August 4, 2021. (Reuters)
Smoke rises as seen from Marjeyoun, near the border with Israel, Lebanon August 4, 2021. (Reuters)

Observers in Lebanon were drawn to the recent exchange of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah party.

Israel had retaliated on Friday to rockets fired by Hezbollah by striking open areas in the disputed Shebaa Farms. Hezbollah initially claimed that it had carried out its attack in response to Israeli raids at dawn on Thursday. Israel had carried out those raids in retaliation to rocket attacks, fired by unknown sides, from southern Lebanon towards its territories.

Observers were eager to find out if Israeli jets had taken part in the strikes in order to determine who had won this round in determining the rules of engagement between Israel and Hezbollah.

The party believes that it is essential to maintain these rules even at the risk of the eruption of a war that it wants to avoid with Israel. The party even released an official statement to deny that Israeli jets had taken part in the strikes.

This week’s “virtual confrontation” is the latest between the two sides since Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. Since then, the “open war” between the foes has transformed into a sort of tango, whose steps are determined by unwritten and undeclared rules that have been named “rules of engagement”.

Those rules were even in place during the peak of the 2006 war. At the time, Israel only struck certain areas in Beirut and its suburbs. It very rarely went beyond those lines. It was said at the time that Israel would strike one side of the road and not the other even though both were Hezbollah territory.

Head of Middle East Center for Studies and Research, Hisham Jaber said Hezbollah and Israel were in agreement over respecting the rules of engagement that they agreed upon years ago.

It appears that the red line is their refusal to engage in an all-out war, he noted. If one side were to stray too far beyond the rules, then the other would “remind” them of what an escalation may lead to. This is what happened in the past two days.

New Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett wanted to convey a message to his people that he is different than his predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu. He ordered an air strike on an open area in Lebanon in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian factions. Hezbollah responded the same way – by also firing at open areas.

Most significant was their choice to fire at the disputed Shebaa Farms area, which Beirut views as Lebanese territory, while Israel deems it Syrian. By attacking disputed land, both sides have avoided forcing each other into engaging in a wider conflict.

Israel’s strikes ultimately had no strategic value, but Hezbollah was forced to respond to avoid surrendering to Israel’s air force. Jaber said the party was forced to retaliate in order to save face in front of its supporters and maintain the morale of its fighters.

Ever since the 2000 withdrawal, Hezbollah has been trying to draw its rules of engagement. It views the Shebaa Farms as occupied Israeli territory, so it has focused its military operations there. Even during the 2006 war, the party met each Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs with a strike on Haifa and when Israel struck Beirut, the party targeted Tel Aviv.

When Israel killed six Hezbollah fighters, including prominent member Imad Mughnieh and an Iranian military commander, in the occupied Golan Heights in January 2015, the party retaliated ten days later by attacking an Israeli military patrol in Shebaa.

When Israel killed Hezbollah operative Samir al-Kuntar in Syria’s Jaramana in December 2015, the party responded by attacking an Israeli vehicle in Shebaa in January 2016.

After a failed Israeli drone attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs in August 2019, the party responded a month later with an attack on an Israeli military vehicle in the settlement of Avivim. Israel retaliated by attacking border regions. Moreover, the Israeli army at the time farcically placed dummies in a remotely-controlled vehicle so that the party could attack it and allow both sides to end the clash to their satisfaction.



COP29 - How Does $300 Billion Stack up?

A demonstrator sitting on the ground holds a poster during a climate protest in Lisbon, to coincide with the closing of the COP29 Climate Summit Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP)
A demonstrator sitting on the ground holds a poster during a climate protest in Lisbon, to coincide with the closing of the COP29 Climate Summit Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP)
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COP29 - How Does $300 Billion Stack up?

A demonstrator sitting on the ground holds a poster during a climate protest in Lisbon, to coincide with the closing of the COP29 Climate Summit Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP)
A demonstrator sitting on the ground holds a poster during a climate protest in Lisbon, to coincide with the closing of the COP29 Climate Summit Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP)

Countries agreed at the UN's COP29 climate conference to spend $300 billion on annual climate finance. Here are some ways of understanding what that sum is worth:

MILITARY MIGHT

In 2023, governments around the globe spent $6.7 billion a day on military expenditure, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

That means the $300 billion annual climate finance target equates to 45 days of global military spending.

BURNING OIL

$300 billion is currently the price tag for all the crude oil used by the world in a little over 40 days, according to Reuters calculations based on global crude oil demand of approximately 100 million barrels/day and end-November Brent crude oil prices.

ELON MUSK

According to Forbes, Elon Musk's net worth stood at $321.7 billion in late November. The world's richest man and owner of social media platform X has co-founded more than half a dozen companies, including electric car maker Tesla and rocket producer SpaceX.

STORM DAMAGE

Hurricane Katrina, one of the most devastating and deadliest cyclones in US history, caused $200 billion in damage alone in 2005.

This year's climate-fueled Hurricane Helene could end up costing up to $250 billion in economic losses and damages in the US, according to estimates by AccuWeather. While preliminary estimates by Morningstar DBRS suggest Hurricane Milton, also supercharged by ocean heat, could cost both the insured and uninsured nearly $100 billion.

BEAUTY BUYS

The global luxury goods market is valued at 363 billion euros ($378 billion) in 2024, according to Bain & Company.

COPPER PLATED

The GDP of Chile - the world's largest copper producing country - stood at $335.5 billion in 2023, according to World Bank data.

GREECE'S BAIL OUT

Euro zone countries and the International Monetary Fund spent some 260 billion euros ($271 billion) between 2010 and 2018 on bailing out Greece - the biggest sovereign bailout in economic history.

BRITISH BONDS

Britain's new government needs to borrow more to fund budget plans. Gilt issuance is expected to rise to 296.9 billion pounds ($372.05 billion) for the current financial year.

TECH TALLY

A 10% share of tech giant Microsoft is worth just over $300 billion, according to LSEG data. Meanwhile the market cap for US oil major Chevron stood at $292 billion.

CRYPTO

The annual climate finance target amounts to 75% of the total value of the global market for crypto currency Ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency.

Alternatively, 3 million Bitcoin would cover the annual climate finance target as the world's largest cryptocurrency closes in on the $100,000 mark following a rally fueled by Donald Trump winning the Nov. 5 US presidential election.