A Sudden Change in War Strategy; Why Israel Now Plans to Attack Hezbollah? [Part One]

In recent days, Israel has announced its plan to open a new front against Hezbollah in north to reach a number of goals and prevent a number of tragic scenarios from happening.

It has been almost three months that Israel has been carrying out extensive and bloody airstrikes and also been sending ground troops to the Palestinian territories in response to the large and sudden attack by Hamas on October 7. In this time period, Israeli attacks have killed more than 20,000 Palestinians and destroyed more than 70 percent of houses in Gaza. Yet, senior Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, continue to speak of their determination to continue attacks until Hamas is completely destroyed.

But in the last few days, reports have been published that Israel intends to make a big change in its war strategy and wants to launch a massive attack against Hezbollah in the south of this country with the support of the US military.

The following words from the Israeli officials, along with numerous reports from different think tanks confirm this claim;

Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser, said this Saturday that “the threat of another October 7-style attack on Israel, but this time from Lebanon’s Hezbollah, should not be underestimated, and Israel should be prepared for this scenario in advance.” He also noted that now is the time for Israel and the US to strategize on how Israel can regain control of its northern borders and expel Hezbollah from there.

“The easiest way is for the world to pressure Hezbollah to accept Security Council Resolution 1701, but unfortunately, this is a remote possibility. A more realistic option is Israeli military action to drive Hezbollah north of the Litani River, which was promised by the UN 17 years ago but never materialized. This move by Israel could turn into a full-scale regional war, but if the United States supports Israel in its attack on Hezbollah, Iran will be humiliated, America’s status as a reliable ally around the world will be improved, and the Iranian people will be re-encouraged to take action again to overthrow the ruling regime of their country,” he explained.

The American newspaper Daily Mail also stated in a similar report that Israel is “planning a new ground war this time against Hezbollah, and the country’s officials have warned that a possible attack by Hezbollah will be far more deadly for Israel than the October 7 massacre.”

A senior official of the Israeli army also warned in this regard that “what happened on October 7 cannot be compared to what Hezbollah can do to the north of Israel, so our doctrine is to avoid another surprise attack by surprising the enemy and attacking first.”

Elon Levy, the spokesman of Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, confirmed Israel’s intention to attack Lebanon’s Hezbollah and stated that “we are now at a crossroad; Either Hezbollah retreat from Israeli’s border in the north in line with UN Resolution 1701 or we will push them back ourselves.”

The Times newspaper also reported last week that the Israeli army is making plans to invade southern Lebanon, and despite the numerous requests from its western allies to stop, Tel Aviv probably won’t change mind.

In the following parts of this article, two important questions will be posed and then answered; First, why has Israel decided to implement such a significant change in its war strategy now? And second, why has Israel chosen to attack Lebanon’s Hezbollah instead of focusing on other threats such as Yemen’s Houthis and even Hamas itself?