“For the past few months, Hezbollah has been going through a bad patch”, says Alon Ben David, military columnist for Maariv. If he only took “calculated risks” towards Israel since the 2006 war, on July 3 it sent (non-offensive) drones over the Karish oil platform. The latter is at the heart of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon on the delimitation of marine territories between the two countries.
An operation for nothing, according to Maariv : “His drones are shot down one after the other and even within the Lebanese government, of which he is supposed to be a part, voices are raised against these ‘provocations’ towards Israel”. In addition, the Beirut port explosion in 2020 had put him in trouble with Lebanese public opinion, including within his own Shia faith community. “In the eyes of many Lebanese, the ‘Party of God’ is seen as one of those responsible for the disintegration of the Lebanese Republic and as the one that blocks any possibility of outside help”.