In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem you hold your breath. And in Gaza. And in Beirut. And in Damascus. And in Tehran. And in Washington. And in Brussels. After the assassination this Tuesday of the number two of Hamas, Saleh al Aruri, in the Lebanese capital, there are many who look at the map of the Middle East with fear that the conflict will escalate.
Because there are many people involved in one way or another.
A drone bombed the Islamist organization's office in the south of Beirut on Tuesday and it is confirmed that the war against Hamas extends from Gaza to Lebanon. Until now the violence was limited to the fight against pro-Iranian Hezbollah militias on its southern border. Now it reaches his heart.
The Lebanese Government denounces “the Israeli violation of its sovereignty” and raises an urgent complaint to the United Nations. And the French president, Emmanuel Macron, in turn asks Israel to “avoid any attitude of escalation” in Lebanon.
But shortly after the news of Al Aruri's death broke, the Al Qasam brigades, of which Al Aruri was a co-founder, announced a “response,” and rocket alerts sounded on the Israeli border with Gaza. Today a speech is expected from Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah, who could be key in a conflict that is spreading and when the militia has already warned that the attack in which at least six people died “will not go unpunished.” .
The recent and surprising announcement of withdrawal by the reservists stationed in the Palestinian enclave announced in recent days by the Israel Defense Forces now takes on another meaning. “The army must plan ahead because we will be called upon for additional tasks and combat this year,” his spokesperson said to explain the measure.
A general strike is called in the West Bank.
It is clear that the map of war extends and reaches Lebanon but does not stop there. Also that negotiations for a possible ceasefire in Gaza seem to be put aside. And that the Gaza war does not face de-escalation even though it has more than 22,000 dead, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The fighting is concentrated in the last few hours in Khan Yunis, in the south of the strip, where Israeli forces believe that the top leaders of Hamas are sheltered.
The newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Israel Katz, yesterday put the icing on the cake in a more than delicate context on his first day in office: "We are in the middle of the Third World War against the leader of radical Islam, Iran, whose tentacles are already They are in Europe.”
