Israel is turning its sights on Hezbollah

As its Gaza campaign cools, Israel’s attention is returning northwards. Approximately 60,000 Israelis from northern communities are still refugees. A reckoning between Israel and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah appears to be only a matter of time. Two significant strikes this week suggest that Israel is preparing for a potentially imminent major confrontation, and broadening the scope of its operations on the northern front.

In the first attack, according to reports in Syrian state media, Israeli aircraft hit targets in the Hama area in western Syria on the night of 7-8 September. 18 people were reported killed, and over 43 wounded. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an opposition-linked website with a network of informants on the ground in Syria, reported that ‘13 violent explosions were heard in the scientific research area in Masyaf, west of Hama. Two Israeli missiles also fell on two sites in the Al-Zawi area in the Masyaf countryside, causing fires in them.