On July 27, fighting broke out between Israeli forces and Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese contact line. This became the heaviest open confrontation between the sides in about a year. The incident occurred in an area known as Chebaa Farms, which was occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israeli shelling started at around 3:30 p.m. local time which lasted for about an hour and a half. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that they had repelled an infiltration attempt by a Hezbollah unit and there were no casualties among IDF forces. The exchange of fire came as the IDF was on heightened alert for a possible attack by Hezbollah, after an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a Hezbollah member earlier in July.
In a televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that it is “playing with fire,” and stated that “Hezbollah and Lebanon bear full responsibility for this incident and any attack from Lebanese territory against Israel.”
In its own turn, pro-Hezbollah sources claimed that Hezbollah targeted a vehicle and a battle tank of the IDF with anti-tank guided missiles.
Hezbollah itself described Israeli claims about the outcome of the clashes as fake and aimed to boost the morale of Israeli forces by fabricating fictitious victories. It also rejected reports about strikes on IDF targets.
“The answer to the martyrdom of [our] brother, Ali Kamel Mohsen, in the vicinity of Damascus airport has not been given yet. Zionist occupiers must still wait for that answer and their punishment at the hands of the resistance forces,” Hezbollah said.
A few hours after the incident on the Lebanese-Israeli contact line, rockets struck US-operated military bases in Iraq. The strike on Camp Speicher, located near Tikrit, caused a large explosion on the site. At the same time, at least three rockets targeted another US-operated military base – Camp Taji, located near Baghdad. According to local media, one rocket hit an Iraqi helicopter while another landed in an artillery weapon depot. The third rocket landed in the area of the 2nd Air Force Squadron but did not explode.
Local sources claim that the strikes came in response to a drone strike on the al-Saqer military camp, south of Baghdad, on July 26. This camp is operated by the Popular Mobilization Units. This branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces is often described by Washington and mainstream media as Iranian proxies and even terrorists.
Even if the incidents in Iraq and the Lebanese-Israeli border were not linked, they serve as strong evidence of the escalating tensions in the Middle East. Despite the defeat of ISIS and the relative de-escalation of the conflict in Syria, the region still remains in a permanent state of escalation. However, now, the source of these tensions is the developing conflict between the Israeli-US bloc and Iranian-led forces.
I predict open war by mid August. Too much stumbling around in the dark for someone not to make a huge mistake.
There are already too many irons in the fire for this to reach the main streams, I predict it will be swept under the rug in 15 minutes of glory and not known about soon after that.
Houthis promises bigger and more spectacular actions hitting Ryad soon.
Maybe the Iranian drill is aimed at deterring potential response.
All thread are related as it is a réegional war for ME dominance.
The Anglo Ziobist cling to their empire.
The most important pivot being KSA.
As soon as KSA fall or fold. It is done with petrodollar and imperial presence in ME.
As long as Iran hold the US will keep losing the ME.
That is where the Iran China deal is important. It means Iran can hold as long as necessary with powerfull backing. While The Anglo Zionist keep paying the historical price of 40 years corrupt and failed policies in ME.
If well played by resistance axis they have the winning hand.
Trump effort in ME and against China is good geoplitical move. Only too little. To late.
Unlikely. Trump doesn’t want a new war in the middle of his re-election campaign. If Trump is re-elected, he won’t have to worry about getting re-elected again so he will have a heavier hand to be more militarily aggressive. I predict there will indeed be all-out war if he’s re-elected. If Biden takes power, he will be like Obama 2.0, so the status quo of a few bombings here and there without any major military escalation will likely continue if Biden is elected. Sad but true.
Do you remember the last election between Trump and Hillary?
Who was open war and who was “a few bombings here and there”?
Funny, isn’t it?