The new phase of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah coincides with the Hamas attack on Israeli territory on October 7 of last year.
Like “the most powerful non-state military force in the world“Experts define Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian Lebanese militia that these days maintains a frontal combat with Israel in Lebanonafter the launch of missiles and drones with bombs in the border area between both countries.
Although Lebanon stayed out of the conflicts that confronted the Arab countries with Israel after its creation in 1948, and did not take part in the 1967 war, this last conflict generated the conditions that would give rise, decades later, to the birth of Hezbollah.
That war marked the loss of several Palestinian territories to the Israelis, with the consequent emergence of large waves of refugees who sought protection and restarted their lives in safer places.
At the beginning of the decade of By 1970, there were already more than 400,000 Palestinians living in precarious conditions in camps located in the southern part of Lebanon.as well as in Beirut, the capital. In fact, in those years the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) had its headquarters in that country, but in 1982 it had to escape to Tunisia, after the Israeli invasion.
The birth of Hezbollah
It was precisely within the framework of the Israeli invasion of 1982, which became known about the existence of Hezbollah, whose literal translation is Party of God. During those years there was talk of his presence in the Bekaa Valley and his closeness to the regime of the Ayatollahs of Iran.
At the end of that decade an agreement was reached that ended the war, but the pro-Shiite group refused to give up its weapons and, since 2000, implemented the tactic of kidnap Israeli soldiers to exchange them for several Palestinian prisoners.
In parallel, Hezbollah developed as a political force in Lebanon, gaining spaces that allowed it to develop its military wing without the intervention of the Lebanese government.
That is, until in July 2006 what is known as the second Lebanon war occurred, which included the murder and taking of hostages by Hezbollah militiamen, and the bombings and attacks on strategic points of the Israeli army.
In August of that year, the UN reached a ceasefire agreement between the parties in conflict, and On September 30, Israeli troops left Lebanon.
The new phase of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah
Although during the following years the Hezbollah militia and the Israeli army have carried out various conflicts of greater or lesser intensity, the truth is that For almost two decades now, the possibility of declared war was not as imminent as it is today..
This new phase of the conflict coincided with the Hamas group’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023when he killed more than a thousand people and took hundreds of prisoners who were transported to the Gaza Strip.
In this context, Hezbollah showed its support for Hamas and to demonstrate it, The next day he launched rockets and missiles at Israel’s northern borderwhich did not take long to respond with attacks against pro-Iranian militia positions near the border between the two countries.
So good Israel prioritized his efforts in the war with Hamas in Gazadid not neglect what was happening on its northern border.
In the following months the news of attacks from both sides was almost daily, until On August 25, more than a hundred Israeli planes attacked simultaneously places where Hezbollah had rocket launchers installed.
And weeks later, on September 16 and 17, The explosion of hundreds of beepers and walkie-tokies in the possession of Hezbollah leaders left dozens dead and thousands injuredthe vast majority militants of the Shiite militia.
The group points to the Israeli secret service, Mossad, as the author of the attacks, and Although Israel has not confirmed it, it has not ruled it out either..
For the moment, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has shown no signs of slowing down its attacks on areas dominated by Hezbollah militants.