Fears of wider offensive looms as Israel steps up air strikes on Hezbollah targetspublished at 07:42 British Summer Time 23 September
Hugo Bachega
Middle East correspondent, in Beirut
Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah is intensifying, with some of the most intense air strikes in the near year-long conflict.
The fear here is that this is the prelude of a wider offensive that could include a ground invasion of southern Lebanon to push fighters away from the border.
This would create the conditions for the return of tens of thousands of Israeli residents displaced from northern communities, which Israel says is the goal of its campaign.
Israel may be hoping that with this pressure Hezbollah will back down. So far, it seems unlikely.
The group is weakened after significant setbacks but remains defiant. Speaking at the funeral of top commanders killed in an airstrike in Beirut, the Hezbollah number two - Naim Qassem - said the group would not be deterred, and vowed to continue with the attacks on Israel until there was a ceasefire in Gaza.
"We have entered a new phase,” he said. "The title of which is the open-ended battle of reckoning."
What is also concerning is that, as seen yesterday, there were not only rockets being fired by Hezbollah but also missiles launched by an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq.
This could be an indication that any major conflict is unlikely to remain contained to Lebanon and Israel.
