Israel-Hezbollah war: What's the history and what's happening now?
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Israel is at war against Hezbollah as bombs rain down on Lebanon. But could it struggle to defeat an organisation so “deeply ingrained” in Lebanese society?
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In brief…
- Lebanon has been rocked by a third day of strikes as Israel targets Hezbollah.
- Things are escalating, but Hezbollah and the conflict itself go all the way back to the 1980s.
- Israel may struggle to achieve its military objectives as Hezbollah “is so deeply ingrained in Lebanese society”, The News Agents hear.
Israel/Lebanon: What’s happening?
Thousands of people are fleeing Lebanon as Israel launches its third day of strikes in the southern part of the country.
Nearly 600 people have been killed in bombings so far, including 50 children, while nearly 2,000 people in Lebanon have been wounded.
Britain is urging nationals to leave Lebanon immediately, stationing 700 troops in Cyprus to help with evacuation efforts.
Hezbollah - the armed wing of which Israel is fighting with - is exchanging the fire. But it is not yielding the same results as Israel’s military.
Today, the group said it fired rockets near Mossad’s HQ in Tel Aviv. It was one of "dozens of missiles" the group says it has fired into northern Israel, targeting Israeli military bases and an airfield.
Why now?
The escalation has come after thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded across Lebanon, reportedly belonging to members of Hezbollah.
Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, is widely believed to be behind the attacks, although denied involvement. It left more than 3,000 people injured and dozens, including children, killed.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said in an emergency speech that followed that this represented an “act of war”.
Following the speech, Israeli fighter jets reportedly triggered sonic booms above Beirut, and drones could be seen hovering in the sky.
The next day, Israel launched a strike on a building which killed civilians and senior Hezbollah commanders. But Israel has assassinated multiple other Hezbollah commanders over the last year.
In fact, Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging strikes since the Israel-Gaza conflict broke out. The group has explicitly stated it is acting in support of Hamas. Since October 8 2023, more than 100,000 Lebanese citizens and 60,000 Israelis have been forced from their homes near the border between the two countries. More than 1,000 people from Lebanon have been killed, according to the country’s health ministry.
A statement Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “The Security Cabinet has updated the objectives of the war to include the following: Returning the residents of the north securely to their homes."
What’s the history?
Israel and Lebanon have been locked in conflicts on and off since the 1980s.
One could trace its roots back to the formation of Israel. But perhaps it is easier to start at the Lebanon civil war, which occurred between 1975 and 1990.
Israel first invaded Lebanon in 1978 as response to an attack in Tel Aviv by a Lebanon-based Palestinian militia.
Palestinian militias, including the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), were operating from southern Lebanon during the period, and were repeatedly clashing with the Israeli military at the border.
In 1982, Israel decided to invade southern Lebanon again. But this time, it sparked an all-out war between Israel and Lebanon. Israeli troops would remain in southern Lebanon until the year 2000.
Hezbollah formed in the aftermath of the 1982 war, directly opposing Israel and its presence in disputed border areas, as well as US interference in the Middle East.
It has taken place in elections since 1992 and in 2009 even released a manifesto expressing more openness to the democratic process.
But at the same time, the group has been blamed for a string of terror attacks. These Include a bombing of the US embassy, a car bombing of Israel’s embassy in London, and a suicide bombing in Bulgaria.
The paramilitary group is proscribed as a terror group by western nations, Israel and several Gulf Arab states.
How powerful is Hezbollah and what does it want?
Hezbollah’s military wing has grown to become the most powerful armed force in the country, more powerful even than the official Lebanese army itself.
Its political wing also yields significant power in the Lebanese parliament and government.
Lewis points out that in many ways, it is “more powerful” than the “”enfeebled Lebanese state”.
That is particularly the case in the southern part of the country, which is almost like a “state within a state”.
That’s according to James Barr, a historian who has written several books on the Middle East.
The King’s College London visiting professor tells The News Agents: “It is not just a terrorist organisation…it provides education, health services, that sort of thing.
“It's absolutely part of the community in a country where the state is often failing to supply those things.”
One of its aims, which it has not been shy about, is “wiping Israel off the map”, Barr says.
But just because it is powerful, doesn’t mean it can easily achieve its objectives.
Barr adds: “It has to operate in quite a complicated space, because if it hits Israel too hard, then it invites very large scale retaliation.”
That makes the people in Lebanon who don't support it more hostile, and for this reason Barr says Hezbollah has in this sense been quite “constrained”.
Will Israel succeed?
Barr tells Emily and Lewis Israel could be walking into the same trap that it walked into in 1982 by “thinking that it would be able to deal with the problem of terrorism, that it would make Israel a safer place.”
As history has shown, this threat did not subside, taking another 18 years before Israeli troops eventually left the territory.
And indeed rather succeeding in routing out future threats, Hezbollah was born out of this very war.Barr adds what we are seeing unfold now is “a degree of triumphalism”.
That being, that Israel is “keen to follow up what they’ve done in the last few days” after the pager incident and taking out a top commander.
But it could struggle as Hezbollah “is so deeply ingrained in Lebanese society that Israel will find itself fighting a war amongst the people”.
He adds: “I think the lesson of the last 20 years is that that kind of war is very, very difficult, if not impossible, to win.”
The News Agents’ take
You can hear Emily and Lewis’ thoughts on today’s podcast.
