In recent days, a series of movements have been observed by the Israeli army around the Shebaa farms in southern Lebanon. A group of Lebanese Hezbollah forces were patrolling the area around the farms to monitor the movements of the Israeli army when they encountered an Israeli commando group and clashes broke out between the two sides, which resulted in the wounding of one of the commanders of the Israeli army.

Following these events, on the orders of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a brigade of mechanized forces of the Israeli army was sent to southern Lebanon, and in response to Hezbollah, they deployed their forces in southern Lebanon, and Israeli planes violated Lebanese airspace several times. Of course, Hezbollah’s timely and clever response caused the Zionist army to temporarily withdraw from around the Shebaa farms, but it is possible that the Tel Aviv army will embark on a new adventure against Hezbollah, which, of course, could provoke a military response from Hezbollah.

Recent Israeli Moves in S. Lebanon Aimed at Diverting Public Opinion

Regarding the reasons for the recent adventure of the Zionist regime, we must look at the internal situation of this regime. The most important issue is the long-running demonstrations by Sephardim Jews and Flashas in protest of the discriminatory conditions in Occupied Palestine against Israeli rule. Sephardim, referred to as Jewish immigrants from Central Asia and the Middle East, have always been considered second-class Jewish citizens for the past six decades. Flasha Jews who immigrated to occupied Palestine from Ethiopia and Africa are also denied citizenship benefits. Therefore, in recent years, these two groups of Jews have held demonstrations many times due to feelings of humiliation, but recently, due to the spread of the coronavirus in Occupied Palestine and the unemployment of a large number of Jews, the two groups have staged mass protests in unison.

We also saw that the gathering of these Jews in front of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office led to violence, and for the first time, at the behest of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli army intervened to suppress the protesters. This shows that the Jewish community living in the occupied territories is breaking away from the ruling establishment and this will create a severe social crisis for the Zionist regime. More than 600,000 people are said to have taken part in the recent demonstrations in the Occupied Territories against racial discrimination in Israel, which is unprecedented. That is why Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to move the crisis beyond the borders of Occupied Palestine to exit the internal social crisis. The recent movements of the Zionist regime army in southern Lebanon can be evaluated and analyzed in this regard; because experience has shown that whenever the Zionist regime faces a political and social crisis, it tries to get out of this crisis through adventurism in the region.

It also seems that because the United States has strongly supported the Zionist regime in the past and now, especially during Donald Trump’s presidency, Netanyahu himself and the Likud Party are now trying to weaken the Axis of Resistance with a series of military strikes, relying on US support. As John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser has said in a recent book, the US president’s security and the political team has strongly supported the Israeli regime and repeatedly encouraged it to attack Iran and the Axis of Resistance. This issue has certainly not been ineffective in the Zionist regime’s military adventures in Lebanon and Syria, as well as the rhetoric of this regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

But why Israel has not been able to take any serious action against the countries of the Resistance in recent years, despite its widespread military threats, goes back to the concerns of the regime’s officials about their response and revenge. According to military experts, last year the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution threatened that if the Zionist regime went on an adventure, the Islamic Republic of Iran would destroy Haifa and Tel Aviv, or that he had recently called for the blood of martyred commander Qassem Soleimani to be avenged from the United States stressed that the leaders of the Zionist regime’s army have been warned about the consequences of any military attack on the countries of the Resistance because there may be unforeseen consequences for the regime.

For example, Hezbollah’s recent threats to target Israeli ammonia tanks in the port city of Haifa in response to the Zionist regime’s movements have alarmed Tel Aviv leaders. Because if Israel goes on an adventure, Hezbollah will use advanced ballistic missiles to destroy the ammonia tanks in Haifa, which is considered Israel’s ‌ Achilles’ heel. In fact, if these reservoirs, which treat 80 per cent of Israel’s drinking water through the Mediterranean, are targeted, a major social crisis will befall Israel and drinking water of two-thirds of the population of the Occupied Territories will be cut off.

Also, if the Dimona nuclear power plant in the Negev Desert, once considered a symbol of Israel’s nuclear power, comes under missile attack, it would affect 18 million people in Occupied Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, Syria and even Cyprus and a catastrophe far greater than the catastrophe of the Chernobyl power plant in Russia will occur. Therefore, given the geographical limitations of the Occupied Territories and the coefficient of the vulnerability of the Zionist regime, the Israeli officials are reluctant to enter into a classic war against Lebanon and other Resistance countries, because they know very well that any military action by Tel Aviv faces the reaction of the Resistance countries sooner or later.