HEZBOLLAH in Lebanon and the Israeli army have made statements suggesting the two avowed enemies wanted to avoid risking the further spread of war beyond the Gaza Strip after a drone strike killed a Palestinian Hamas deputy leader in Beirut.
In a speech in Beirut on Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed his powerful Iran-backed group “cannot be silent” following the killing of Hamas deputy Saleh al-Arouri on Tuesday.
Nasrallah said his heavily armed forces would fight to the finish if Israel chose to extend the war to Lebanon, but he made no concrete threats to act against Israel in support of Hamas, Hezbollah’s ally also backed by Iran.
Israel neither confirmed nor denied assassinating Arouri but has promised to annihilate Hamas, which rules Gaza, following the group’s October 7 cross-border assault.
Israel launched a ground and aerial blitz of Gaza in response, and the total recorded Palestinian death toll had reached 22,313 by Wednesday – almost one per cent of its 2.3 million population, the Gaza health ministry said.
Asked what Israel was doing to prepare for a potential Hezbollah response, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a reporter: “I won’t respond to what you just mentioned. We are focused on the fight against Hamas.”
White House spokesman John Kirby, asked about Nasrallah’s speech, told reporters: “We haven’t seen Hezbollah jump in with both feet to come to Hamas’ aid and assistance.”
Another US official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, suggested neither Hezbollah nor Israel wanted a war.
“From everything that we can tell, there is no clear desire for Hezbollah to go to war with Israel and vice versa,” the official said.
Arouri’s killing was a further sign of the potential the almost three-month-old war might spread well beyond Gaza, drawing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hezbollah forces on the Lebanon-Israel border and Red Sea shipping lanes.
