Explainer | Israeli-Hezbollah conflict escalates – but is this war?
Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly traded fire in the last year, but neither side is calling it a war – yet
But no one is calling it a war – not yet.
Israeli officials say they are not seeking war with Hezbollah and that it can be avoided if the militant group halts its attacks and backs away from the border. Hezbollah also says it doesn’t want a war but is prepared for one – and that it will keep up the strikes on Israel that it began in the wake of ally Hamas’ October 7 attack until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly traded fire since then – but the intensity rose to another level Monday, when Israeli air strikes killed more than 490 people, according to Lebanese officials. That would make it the deadliest day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah last went to war in 2006.
“If someone had told me or most analysts in summer 2023 that Hezbollah is striking Israeli bases in Israel, and Israel is striking southern Lebanon and parts of southern Beirut, I would have said, OK, that’s an all-out war,” said Andreas Krieg, a military analyst at King’s College London.
The term hasn’t yet been applied to the current conflict because “there haven’t been any boots on the ground,” but that might be “the wrong metric,” he added.
