Israel’s allies reacted angrily to the targeted strikes on top leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, and the IRGC. Joe Biden called them an obstacle to negotiations in Qatar, while other Western and Arab leaders condemned them as provocative. But the first reactions to threats of escalation from Tehran and Beirut testify to another possibility — that the strikes may have finally sent a message about Israel’s intent to go all out to secure its nation.
The apparent retreat from full-scale retaliation from Tehran has been matched in Beirut, the New York Times reports this morning, and for the same reason. Hezbollah fears that an all-out war could lead to a civil war that would result in an ejection from power after over 40 years controlling Lebanon:
A day after the assassination of a senior commander of the Lebanese militant faction Hezbollah, the group vowed to retaliate against Israel….
