“bunkerizes” hospitals and closes schools

The exchange of fire intensified yesterday morning on the border with Lebanon, just 48 hours after the Israeli air strike that killed people in the Suburbs of Beirut 45 people, including several senior officials from RadwanHezbollah’s elite force. A harsh setback that caps a tragic week for the militias after THE wave of explosions from thousands of communication devices in the ranks of Hezbollah, attributed to Israel, and which left the paramilitary group stunned after the death of more than 30 of its fighters and nearly 3,000 wounded.

Faced with this situation, Hezbollah did not sit idly by and responded to Israel by launching of Dozens of rockets against the north of the countryallegedly directed against military outposts, barracks or bases. The pro-Iran group and ally of Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks as part of its “first answer” to the massive explosion of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies in the hands of its members.

Israel’s reaction was not long in coming either. In the early hours of Sunday, dozens of its air force planes attacked southern Lebanon extensively after detecting that Hezbollah was preparing to fire on its territory. The Hebrew army assured that it had reached 290 targetsincluding thousands of rocket launcher barrels and military infrastructure. This is the the most violent bombing in almost a year of war conflict.

Northern Israel Protects Itself

Amidst this escalation of tensions, with mutual attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, the Jewish state is preparing for what could await it within its borders if an open war breaks out in the region. In the early hours of Sunday, alarms were sounded in many areas of the north of the country due to the more than 150 projectiles launched by Hezbollah.

Faced with the possibility of further attacks in a context of escalating tensions and growing insecurity, Netanyahu’s government has protected the north of the country and decreed new restrictions on the civilian population in the north of the country.

The Ministry of Health has ordered that All hospitals located in this area operate from departments located underground and cancel elective surgeries.

The measure affects the hospital centers of Carmel, Ziv, Nahariya, HaEmek, Poroya, Italiano and Inglés, while the Haifa’s Rambam Hospital, the region’s largest, was forced to move its surgeries to the center’s fortified parking lot, according to The time of Israel.

THE schoolsThousands of children in the north of the country did not attend classes this Sunday and will not do so this Monday in all educational centers in Haifa, the Golan, the Galilee and the Jordan Valley.

The situation is particularly critical in HaifaThe country’s third largest city was packed with people this Sunday after being shaken, for the first time in monthsdue to attacks by the Shiite militia party. There, as in other northern cities, Meetings in outdoor spaces have been limited to a maximum of 10 people and 100 indoor meetings, and workplaces were forced to operate near air raid shelters.

Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, school closures and evacuations have been limited to communities bordering the Lebanese border. However, Sunday’s attacks forced Israel to implement his “war plan” for fear that new projectiles will reach these points furthest from the demarcation line. Indeed, among the barrage of rockets, cruise missiles and drones that fell on Israeli soil in the early hours of the morning, there are several projectiles launched by pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.

Towards total war

The situation on the border between Israel and Lebanon is alive its most critical moment since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, when crossfire between the two sides began. The latest moves by the Jewish state indicate a new phase of hostilitieswithout fear, as it seems to indicate, of a total war with his Lebanese enemy.

However, the increase in the exchange of attacks does not seem, for the moment, to amplify Hezbollah’s warlike intentions and engage in an open conflict against Israel.although he promised a few days ago that he would give a “specific” response to the wave of explosions.

However, the Lebanese militias are not intimidated by the blows of recent days nor by the threats from Israel, including the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raised his voice again this Sunday by warning Hezbollah that if it continues He didn’t “get the message”referring to the escalation of attacks in recent days, He will soon “understand”.

For its part, the Shiite organization, according to the words of Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, warned that the Lebanese movement had entered into “a new phase of accounts” with Tel Aviv and that the group has become “stronger”.

“Israel has committed itself three painful war crimes against us that represent the highest levels of brutality we have witnessed in this century and the previous century. They have attacked civilians, women, children, pharmacies and homes.” Qassem warned during the funeral of the head of his body, Ibrahim Aqil “the efficient”one of its most experienced leaders, killed in Friday’s attack in Beirut.

Similarly, Hezbollah’s “number two” assured that the group had become “stronger” and that They will only leave the “battlefield” with victory“We will not be intimidated by threats and we are ready to face all military possibilities,” warned Naim, who boasts of having fighters “with their heads held high and their hands on the trigger.”

“On the brink of imminent catastrophe”

In just five days, Israel and Hezbollah have moved towards the the worst possible scenario despite constant calls from the international community to reduce tensions. The UN is particularly concerned and has warned in recent hours that The Middle East “is on the brink of imminent catastrophe.”

“As the region stands on the brink of imminent catastrophe, it cannot be said loudly enough: there is no military solution “This will make one side safer,” said the Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, in a brief message published by his office on the social network X.

For his part, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, expressed his “extreme concern” over “escalation in Lebanon” and called for measures to be taken to avoid “open warfare” amid escalating clashes between Israel and the Shiite militia Hezbollah.

Iran’s reaction

Since the start of the war in Gaza almost a year ago, all eyes of the international community have been on Iran because of its hegemonic role in the region. There has been much speculation in recent months about the possibility of an imminent attack by the ayatollahs’ regime.

The escalation of tensions between Israel and Hezbollah has once again put the spotlight on Tehran, which also raised its voice on Sunday by telling its Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Naser Kanani, that “The Criminal Regime of Israel “will suffer the same fate” as Saddam Husseinwho ruled Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 in a US-led invasion and who led in the country during the war against Iran in the 1980s.

However, Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian toned down his tone and said that this week he would try, from the UN General Assembly, to work towards “achieve peace and security in the world“, before directly accusing Israel of the conflict shaking the Middle East.

Many analysts agree that what happens in the coming days will depend on whether Hezbollah accepts a diplomatic solution and moves away from the divisive one; or, conversely, whether Tehran chooses to “risk everything,” in the words of Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst.

“Only There are two possible options: continue the exchange of fire with Israel, which would lead to a wider conflict at a time when Hezbollah is at its weakest, or give way to a diplomatic solution that allows Israel to achieve its ultimate war objective: to bring the displaced back to their homes in the north,” Melamed warned in statements to the Efe agency.