Is a new front about to open up in Israel’s war?

Two days after the Israel Defence Forces announced that it had dismantled Hamas’s ‘military framework’ in the northern Gaza Strip, a new front in the war could now begin after the IDF took out a senior Hezbollah commander. Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of a unit within the group’s elite Radwan force, was killed this morning in an Israeli air strike on his car in southern Lebanon. ‘This is a very painful strike,’ one unnamed security source told Reuters. ‘Things will flare up now,’ another security source added. Since 7 October, more than 130 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in skirmishes between the group and Israel (another 19 died in Syria). Some 15 Israelis have also been killed.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly warned the Israelis not to begin a full-scale war with Lebanon (a threat he repeated again during an address on Friday, claiming that there would be ‘no ceilings’ and ‘no rules’ to his group’s fighting if Israel launches a war).