Muscle strain aside, Israel is not ready for war with Hezbollah: WaPo

While “Israel” says it is prepared for any scenario with Lebanon, in reality the current situation does not allow it to wage war with Hezbollah. The Washington Post was revealed in a report on Monday.

Since October 8, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon has been conducting operations against the Israeli occupation in response to the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Hezbollah has stated that its attacks are aimed at “pressuring Israel” to end its war against Gaza and has repeatedly confirmed that the attacks would stop once the aggression against Gaza ends.

On the other hand, the entity has still not “eliminated” the resistance group Hamas, one of the alleged targets of the war, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not presented an exit plan. WaPo noted.

Read more: Hezbollah shows that important Israeli sites could be attacked in case of war

Given Israel’s failure to achieve its military objectives in Gaza, Hezbollah poses a far greater threat to the occupied territory, the report said. The Lebanese resistance group is a “better armed and more professional enemy” than the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, the media said, citing experts.

Despite public threats against the group on the northern border, there are voices within the organization expressing fears that its forces are exhausted and its resources depleted as it continues to wage its longest war in decades.

A solution to the escalation at the border is apparently not in sight, the report says.

According to the newspaper, “Israel” has been making plans for a war against Lebanon for months.

Read more: Hezbollah turns “Israel” into a punching bag: Israeli media

Former war cabinet member Benny Gantz said he and others had urged Netanyahu to agree to an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in March following a Hezbollah rocket attack that killed two Israelis last week.

However, Netanyahu “hesitated,” Gantz said, adding that the prime minister did not even want to commit to ensuring that Israeli settlers could return to the northern settlements by September 1, the start of the new school year.

“Worn to the bone”

The prime minister knows that the Israeli public is not prepared for thousands of rockets to hit Tel Aviv, a political scientist at Hebrew University said, according to the newspaper. Gayil Talshir said Netanyahu avoids difficult decisions instead of making strategic plans and surrounds himself with yes-men who lack military experience.

At least 100,000 settlers have fled northern Palestine due to Hezbollah operations. The majority of them have publicly stated that they will not return until the resistance in Lebanon is dealt with. They have called on Hezbollah fighters to withdraw several kilometers from the border and stressed that this cannot be achieved through a diplomatic agreement.

In addition, Hezbollah has destroyed and damaged hundreds of housing units and facilities over the past nine months.

“This is just a small taste of the destruction Hezbollah could cause in the event of a full-scale war,” the report says. In addition, this would lead to widespread power outages.

Read more: Largest Israeli energy company starts exercises for Hezbollah war scenario

Regarding the manpower and firepower of Hezbollah forces, the newspaper claimed that the group has “twice as many” fighters as Hamas and “more than four times as much ammunition,” including guided missiles.

The former deputy chief of staff confirmed that the Israeli occupation forces were overwhelmed.

“The reserves and the regular army system are worn down to the bone,” Yair Golan, who is also chairman of Israel’s Labor Party, said last month.

Yoel Guzansky, a former official of Israel’s National Security Council and now a senior fellow at the Israeli think tank Institute for National Security Studies, said the institute is used to waging short wars.

But nine months later, the IOF are “exhausted, the equipment needs maintenance, the ammunition is used up and every family in Israel is affected,” he said.

The researcher warned that an Israeli invasion of Lebanon could be a “trap” that could drag the occupying power into another war with no clear end.

“There is a false belief in Israel that a war there could be over in a few days or weeks,” he concluded.

Read more: Israel faces six ‘tough’ decisions on Hezbollah, no guarantees