Ex-Shabak chief Avi Dichter sees stratetic Philadelphi Route as key
Iwas awakened in my home in Israel’s south at 4:20 a.m. on Sunday by the roar of dozens of fighter planes taking off for Lebanon. As a longtime neighbor of the airbase, I could deduce the type of aircraft, their flight direction, and the armaments they carried. The more heavily the plane is armed, the louder the noise at takeoff. I knew this would be a big attack.
Sunday morning, for the first time since October 7, Israel launched a widescale preemptive strike on Hezbollah, a Six Day War surprise attack in miniature. The operation was launched after the terror group’s forces were spotted moving weaponry ahead of its retaliation for the assassination of Fuad Shukr.
As of this writing, with Israel’s security cabinet still in session, the attack was partially successful, with hundreds of Hezbollah missiles and rockets destroyed on their launchpads. But at the same time, Hezbollah managed to extend its range.
What’s clear in the short term is that the hostage talks with Hamas will suffer a setback, as Sinwar holds out for the opening of a second front. The coming days will reveal whether this exchange of blows leads to an escalation and all-out war in the north, or rather to a US-mediated ceasefire deal in both north and south to prevent a full-scale regional war.
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