Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure at home to escalate in Lebanon – once again – after four Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hezbollah attack inside Lebanon overnight Friday.
But the Israeli leader, trapped between far-right politicians saying “all of Lebanon should burn” and a US president demanding an immediate end to the war, must decide how far he can go.
When Hezbollah rockets crossed into northern Israel last week, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to strike Beirut. And when Iran then fired ballistic missiles at Israel, President Donald Trump forced Israel to limit its response. He dismissed the Hezbollah projectiles as “very small and meaningless,” a virtually unthinkable statement from any American president… other than Trump.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday morning that it had struck 80 Hezbollah targets and killed “dozens of Hezbollah terrorists” following what it described as “repeated violations of the ceasefire.” According to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health, at least 21 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Friday.
Notably, the IDF did not strike Beirut, which could’ve risked an immediate exchange of fire with Iran and likely angered Trump as the US is determined to push forward with the nascent agreement with Iran that also ends the Lebanon war. The US is also hosting another round of Israel-Lebanon talks next week.
But Tehran is already using the leverage it has, demanding an end to the fighting in Lebanon before it’s willing to continue talks with the US.
That pressure to stop attacks in Lebanon can come only from Trump, who has boxed Israel in several times in what he will allow Netanyahu to do. On Friday, Netanyahu vowed that “Israel will not tolerate attacks on our soldiers or on our territory, and it will exact a very heavy price from Hezbollah for such attacks.” He said the IDF would not withdraw from the territory it occupies in southern Lebanon.
The statement also seems to indicate that Israel will not go further, at least for now. Trump is very much in the driver’s seat. And Netanyahu knows it.
