Was Hezbollah really caught off-guard? For residents of the North, the answer doesn’t really matter
fter Israel’s momentous preemptive strike on Hezbollah rocket and drone emplacements in Lebanon early on Sunday, the terror group signaled that it was satisfied with the 300 or so rockets it managed to fire off, and that it would make no further moves for now. That, in turn, satisfied the IDF and its American overseers that no escalation is forthcoming — but Israel’s tens of thousands of evacuees from northern towns and cities are still left hanging.
The 4:30 a.m. H-Hour for Sunday’s preemptive attack was set just hours before it began. But the operation had been planned weeks in advance and approved three days earlier.
In recent weeks, Israel increasingly recognized that Hezbollah wanted a symbolic “victory picture” to avenge last month’s assassination of Fuad Shukr, the organization’s chief of staff, and wouldn’t settle for an ordinary response. Meticulously collected intelligence, some shared with Israel by the Americans, indicated intentions of a pinpoint yet powerful strike.
The United States has repeatedly made clear to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi that it opposes a preemptive Israeli strike and won’t back Israel if such an attack draws Hezbollah into all-out war. But at the same time, per a senior political official, the Americans also feared that a successful Hezbollah attack could force Israel’s hand, leading to a regional escalation.
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