The Lebanese militia Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets toward a small military base in northern Israel on Saturday morning, in what the group said was an initial response to the assassination of a senior Hamas commander in Lebanon five days ago that has raised fears of a wider conflagration.
Hezbollah said in a statement that the strikes had caused casualties, but there were no immediate Israeli reports of injuries and the assault was initially perceived by analysts as more of a symbolic response to the assassination than a significant escalation.
The Israeli military said in a statement that roughly 40 rockets had been fired from Lebanon toward Mount Meron, an area housing a military radar station that is roughly five miles south of the Israel-Lebanon border. The military said that it had responded by striking a militant group in Lebanon that had been involved in the rocket fire.
Countries involved in the war so far:
Israel
Palestine (if you count it)
Yemen
Lebanon
What’s next?
I don’t think it’s spilling over into a broader war yet.
Lebanon isn’t really that involved. Hezbollah and Israel fire rockets at each other all the time. It’s obviously more activity than usual but I don’t think they have any appetite for war. This attack is likely more about saving face. Weirdly, it’s probably a good sign that this was their response.
The Houthis have been launching attacks but not the Yemeni government. Until relatively recently the (Shia) Houthis were attacking the (Sunni) government of Yemen. Neither side is friendly with Israel, but they’re definitely not on the same page - the Houthis are aligned with Hamas but the government isn’t.
Yeah people don’t realize that Hezbollah’s playing a VERY dangerous balancing act here, because Lebanese folks largely don’t give a shit about crusading against Israel, so Hezbollah dragging them all into war could prompt a rebellion against Hezbollah, and if the beehive is shaken up enough, any Lebanese government that doesn’t explicitly ban and persecute any future Hezbollah activities.
Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia, US, EU and China are already involved as well.
But as secondary players. I’m talking about the direct actors.
You forgot Iran and Qatar.