After 100 Days of War, Israel Is Not Backing Down
As appetite for taking on Hezbollah increases, the question remains whether the conflict will spread from Gaza and turn into a wider conflagration.
An Israeli artillery unit fires across the border towards Lebanon on Jan. 11.
Photographer: Amir Levy/Getty Images
The smoke had barely dissipated from Israel’s assassination of a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon when Antony Blinken visited Tel Aviv on Jan. 9 as part of another tour aimed at deescalating tension in the Middle East.
The US’s top diplomat had spent the previous days urging leaders in the region to do whatever they could to rein in Iran and its proxy militias. Hezbollah has attacked Israeli forces and the Houthis in Yemen have targeted ships in the Red Sea, prompting the US and UK to launch airstrikes against the group.