Opinion | Why Is Israel Playing With Fire? Because It Has Understood It Can

The Middle East is once again on a boil. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has been killed in a strike on Beirut, the Israeli military said today. The flare-up this time is truly alarming and could be apocalyptic in its potential. 

On September 17-18, the world was astonished by what seemed to be back-to-back attacks in Lebanon involving exploding pagers and walkie-talkies belonging mostly to the Iran-backed Hezbollah. The attacks were allegedly an Israeli operation.  Almost 30 people lost their lives, with thousands reported injured. Soon after, Israel launched airstrikes on settlements in southern and eastern Lebanon in what it called 'targeted assassinations' to eliminate Hezbollah leaders and operatives. According to estimates from the Lebanese health ministry, more than 1,000 people have died in these strikes, with more than 5,000 injured. Many of them are civilians given how Hezbollah is well-integrated into the local population. A number of other Hezbollah leaders, like Ibrahim Aqil, have been confirmed dead.

To be fair, it was Hezbollah that had begun the attacks on northern  Israel in response to Hamas's multipronged strikes in Israel on October 7 last year. Hezbollah's rationale was to open a second front against Israel and force it to declare a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis in the north of the country have been displaced by Hezbollah's assault.