Hezbollah leader Nasrallah
Photo: AFP
Hezbollah's mouthpiece: Syria-border attack – game changer
Paper affiliated with the organization claims Israel believed its Lebanon strike will be unanswered – and was wrong.
Hezbollah sees the attack on the Israel-Syria border
on Tuesday and the injuring of four IDF soldiers as "new ground rules according to the resistance."
In an opinion piece written by Ibrahim Al-Amin, editor of Lebanon's heavily pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar, it is claimed that Hezbollah knows everything about Israel – however Israel does not know much about the organization, thus did not anticipate the response.
"Israel tried its luck when bombing the Hezbollah facility on the Syria-Lebanon border in the Lebanon Valley area," the article read. "Israel did not ignore Hezbollah's message, that stressed there will be a response, but it did not know how and when. And then the tables have turned: Rocket fire towards a Mount Hermon outpost and an attempt to place an explosive in the Golan Heights."
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The writer further noted that even though Hezbollah did not claim responsibility for the attack, Israel accused the organization out of hope that it was the anticipated response. "In such a situation, Israel can use the space of denial and thus shut down the game. Hezbollah knows Israel well and knows what happens within it a lot more than really needed. The organization knows when Israel gets the message and helps it take it in, and even pulls the strings to have Israel operate according to its wishes."
In the article that somewhat signifies the terror organization's responsibility for the recent attack, Al-Amin added that Hezbollah's desire to set new ground rules led its people to place two explosives on the northern Israeli border, after a special commando force managed to cross all security barriers.
"One (explosive device) exploded when a command patrol passed and the other was left for the soldiers, for them to find it at a later time. The nature and power of the devices were prepared within 'a small and special mailbox' so that Israel would know the sender's identity."
IDF forces near Syrian border (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
It was further claimed in the article in that the explosive in the Golan, which Israel claims was skillfully prepared, made Israel attack an outpost within Syria. According to Al-Amin, "the non-fatal hits caused Israel to not be able to expressly say Hezbollah is behind the attack, but it responded against Syrian army outposts and claimed they were liable for the action."
Al-Amin, who is considered Nasrallah's mouthpiece, wrote that compared to the Syrian arena, where according to reports Israel had struck and calm was maintained, in Lebanon the situation is different. "Israel's problem is not only its wrongful speculation about the nature of the response of the Syrian regime or Hezbollah over the ongoing escalating tensions, but it thinks that things can be done while it chooses to act unilaterally," it was claimed.
"It is true that enemy forces attacked Syrian outposts in front of the occupied Golan, but Israel knows that an attack would not change a thing in the new reality."
Hezbollah defined their recent operation as an incident designed to draw the attention of Israel to the reality in the field. "It forces Israel to face to limited options: Either hide the pain, scream to resolve the problem or respond with an under-the-belt attack that would make the other side retreat," Al-Amin wrote.
