Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
20 September 2024 | 15:30 CAT
2 min read

Low-flying Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over Beirut as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered his first speech following two days of Israeli attacks across Lebanon. The strikes, which killed Hezbollah members, civilians, and at least two children, come amid heightened tensions on Israel’s northern front.

Speaking to Radio Islam, Dr James M. Dorsey pointed out that some fallout has already been witnessed with the growing hostilities along the Lebanese-Israeli border, and Hezbollah’s leader delivered a speech that left their response strategy unclear and ambiguous.

“You saw a significant number of Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel, to which Israel responded even more massively, but nonetheless, it indicated not all of Hezbollah’s commanding control had been destroyed. Obviously, this will impact the Gaza ceasefire negotiations,” he said.

Dorsey believes it’s possible that Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, believes Hamas might benefit more from an escalation of tensions and a shift of Israel’s military focus from Gaza to Lebanon than from negotiating a ceasefire.

“What happened this week, in terms of the explosions of the communications devices, raises serious questions in terms of the expansions of surveillance spyware and software and what you can do with it. But also, the expansion of what constitutes legitimate and legal warfare,” he said.

He stated that Hezbollah faces a dilemma in responding to this week’s events: its communications have been compromised, yet significant attacks have been carried out against Israel. The group must carefully calibrate a response that is strong and decisive but not severe enough to trigger an all-out Middle East war.

“If Israel can do this to Hezbollah, in theory, it can do this to others, and other entities and countries may have similar capabilities; I think you are going to see a response to that in multiple circles,” he said.

There will be a lot of ongoing searching and investigation as events continue to unfold.

Nasrallah condemned the attacks as a “major terrorist operation” and a “genocide.”

According to Dorsey, President Joe Biden’s envoy was in Israel this week, just hours before the first round of attacks on pagers occurred. During the visit, Biden strongly urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to pursue negotiations, rather than military action, as the best way to facilitate the return of tens of thousands of Israelis who had been evacuated from the Lebanese-Israeli border due to the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.

“Netanyahu knows there are going to be elections in less than two months, and criticism of Israel is a sensitive issue in the US. He believes that Trump will be a better President for Israel and certainly for Netanyahu than Kamala Harris will be, so there is everyone reason to assume Netanyahu is taking US electoral politics into consideration,” he said.

Since October 8, over 600 people have died in cross-border clashes, including more than 100 civilians.

LISTEN to the full interview with Ml Sulaimaan Ravat and Dr James M. Dorsey, an Award-winning scholar & journalist, here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist, scholar, and Senior Fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute. He is the author of ‘The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer’.