How the assassination of the Hezbollah chief could affect the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip – Firstpost

In recent months, Israeli intelligence services and their firepower with precision strikes appear to have rehabilitated themselves since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks, whose unprecedented success not only affected but also raised questions about the pace of rapprochement between Arab states and the Jewish state much-vaunted, albeit fake, and secret but highly successful operations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his belligerent political associate could never have tolerated this as it would have been the final nail in his political coffin. So he risked alienating even his closest allies, making Israel’s existence a problem, and went all out in Gaza, trashing it without regard for thousands of civilian casualties and ignoring questions of humanitarian disasters.

Netanyahu did not particularly care about domestic discontent and international concerns, including the International Court of Justice, the rulings and arrest warrants of the International Criminal Court, or even the resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council, as one of his ambassadors even wanted to be bombed , and the other called the ongoing UN General Assembly a circus. He continued steadfastly in Gaza, decimating and destroying Hamas’ capabilities to the point where they no longer posed a major threat, while at the same time making excuses with some kind of ceasefire agreement.

According to reports, following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas leader, in Tehran (which Israel openly refused to admit so as not to give Tehran a pretext for violating its sovereignty and thus direct retaliation), the new leader Yahya Sinwar and his family were appointed offered an exit as precision and random bombing continued. Sinwar appears to have been incommunicado.

In the short term, Bibi may have rehabilitated himself, and since he is a political fighter, he could face the investigative commission with some credibility while Palestinian lives do not matter. The fact that the international community has become a silent spectator of this chaos with innocuous statements is evidence that pervasive unilateralism can get away with impunity not only among superpowers, but also with medium-sized and smaller powers. The only downside to the chaos is that the Palestinian issue is on the rise again, even if a solution is still a long way off.

For over a year, Hezbollah continued to put pressure on Israel’s northern front, forcing around 70,000 Israelis to leave their homes, which became a priority after Netanyahu sailed through Gaza. When dealing with Hezbollah, he adopted the “decapitation strategy.” Meanwhile, skirmishes remained below a certain threshold. But Israeli intelligence agencies worked overtime to identify, locate and kill Hezbollah’s military leadership with exemplary precision in order to weaken their capacity and coordination matrix.

As international pressure continued to mount, particularly on the UNGA delegates, after delegates accused Israel of provoking regional escalation and war, while Iran tried to play good boy by maintaining strategic patience, which was its direct As far as intervention was concerned, Netanyahu agreed in New York himself, in consultation with his American patrons, issued the death sentence for the Hezbollah leaders, including its leader Hassan Nasrallah, which was the worst blow for them and a certain relief for the Lebanese government as well as other Arab states, who had no love lost represents either Hamas or Hezbollah.

They may feel elation as Iran’s proxy power may have been compromised as Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamanei was moved to a safe location following the Hezbollah assassinations. He praised the assassinated leader Nasrallah and stated: “The evil nature of the Zionist regime did not achieve victory in this incident, because Sayyed of the Resistance was not just an individual; It was a path and a school of thought, and that path will continue.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry followed with a warning: “The consequences of the assassination of Seyed Hassan Nasrallah are directed against Israel and America.” Israel’s actions will never go unpunished. Iran will use all its capacities to support the people of Palestine and Lebanon.”

Although Netanyahu openly warned that his tirade was directed against the non-state actor and terrorist organization Hezbollah and not against Lebanon, the collateral losses and violation of the sovereignty of a helpless state are a major question mark for the so-called rules-based order that is trying to capitalize on its crippled state legs to stand.

The fact that the command and control matrix of the political and military leadership of the most powerful of the 4Hs – Hamas (Gaza), Hezbollah (Lebanon and Syria), Houthis (Yemen) and Kataib Hezbollah (Iraq) – has been decimated, and the ease with which they were eliminated clearly indicates their internal strategic weakness and testifies to the extraordinary ability of the Mossad and others to penetrate.

Technology has changed the game, as has the chaos and fear that arose when hundreds of Lebanese were killed and thousands injured by the blowing up of pagers and cellphones a few weeks ago. This also sparked fear around the world and was widely condemned, as the use of communications devices and networks as IEDs has unprecedented security implications.

As President Joe Biden bids farewell at the United Nations General Assembly and the Future Summit, he has asked Netanyahu to accept the ceasefire agreement so that the plight of Gazans can be alleviated and the remaining hundred or so Israeli hostages are released. Of course, the day after tomorrow scenarios in Gaza and Lebanon will be of equal importance. Hopefully, Netanyahu will not engage in a ground invasion and further adventurism in southern Lebanon that will be far more disastrous and dangerous even for the Jewish state, although IDF Chief of Staff General Herzi Halevi claims that “this is not the end.” our (Israel’s) toolbox.”

At the end of the day, peace is the only security.

The author is a former Indian Ambassador to Jordan, Libya and Malta and currently a Distinguished Fellow of the Vivekananda International Foundation. The views expressed in the article above are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Firstpost.