Antony Blinken wasn’t the only American diplomat visiting the Middle East this week. Yesterday, the presidential adviser and frequent envoy to the Levant Amos Hochstein arrived in Lebanon—following a trip to Israel last week—in an attempt to forestall a major escalation between Jerusalem and Hizballah. The Lebanon-based terrorist group has been involved in frequent exchanges of fire with the IDF since October 7. As Avigdor Haselkorn points out, Hizballah also has in its possession medium-range ballistic missiles, “some of which undoubtedly are slated to carry nuclear warheads when those become available.” Haselkorn delves into this Iranian proxy militia’s strategy:
Hizballah’s main mission is the same as that of Iran’s long-range missiles, namely to deter its enemies from attack and especially to prevent them from preempting Iran’s evolving nuclear program. Hizballah is Iran’s second-strike force, designed exclusively to launch paralyzing retaliatory strikes in case Israel attacks its nuclear sites—which, Tehran calculates, should dissuade the “Zionist regime” from such a “foolish adventure.”
Hizballah’s current restraint is geared toward tying down the IDF on Israel’s northern border in a protracted sideshow for as long as possible and thus necessarily forcing it to forsake going after Iran.
Read more on Ynet: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/bjp1zodop