Hezbollah Has Reasons for Its Current Pugnacity, Beyond Internal Israeli Fighting

Winfield Myers

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the Hezbollah flag

Israel is clearly alarmed by a marked change in Hezbollah’s posture along the country’s most combustible border, in the north.

Last Wednesday, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and President Isaac Herzog made separate trips to the Israel-Lebanon line, both seeking to convey a message of resolve in the face of the newly confident and aggressive Shiite army.

Though the photographs released by Herzog’s office — the president and first lady smiling with a relaxed group of soldiers and officers, none of them armed or wearing combat vests — won’t add much to Israel’s deterrence, his words were of a different tenor altogether.

“I want to tell our enemies — especially Hezbollah on the other side of the border — don’t make a mistake,” he said. “The IDF is strong, it is united. It is capable and will protect and defend our sovereignty and the security and well-being of the people of Israel. This is our top priority.”

Read the full article at the Times of Israel.

Lazar Berman is the Times of Israel‘s diplomatic reporter and a Middle East Forum Writing Fellow.

Lazar Berman is the diplomatic correspondent at the Times of Israel, where he also covers Christian Affairs. He holds an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and taught at Salahuddin University in Iraqi Kurdistan. Berman is a reserve captain in the IDF’s Commando Brigade and served in a Bedouin unit during his active service.
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