Rocket strike puts Israel-Hezbollah on brink of all-out war

The strike was the deadliest cross-border attack since fighting escalated in October

The University of Haifa, less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Israel's border with Lebanon, has no space.  On the morning that a rocket fell on a soccer field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teenagers,  university officials announced that all employees on the fifth floor of 30-plus homes work from home. Fears are mounting that Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah has caught them in the crosshairs.  "In their last war against Hezbollah in 2006, their weapons reached Haifa," university official Esther Parpara told me. "This is a dangerous time. Parents help the police and security guards to monitor the daycare. I avoid crowded places. We don't want war - but Hezbollah wants to destroy Israel and the Jewish people, so can we allow them to do so without defending themselves? "  Shelling on the border between Israel and Lebanon has increased since October 8, when Hezbollah fired rockets and bombs at Israeli positions in support of the  attack the previous day. Both groups are calling for the destruction of the Israeli government and 1967. and took over the government in 1981. Israel has launched airstrikes and rocket attacks into southern Lebanon and across the south, including heavy nighttime strikes apparently in response to Saturday's rocket attack. More than 450 people have been killed in Lebanon in  follow-up attacks since October - nearly 100 of them civilians - while Israel says 23 civilians and 17 soldiers have been killed. The conflict is largely under control. , the two sides tried to avoid face-to-face confrontation.
But  the question now is how  Israel will respond to Saturday's tragedy, the biggest  loss  in a border attack since October. ,000 people lined the streets of the city to mourn the young victims, carrying flowers and photos around the small white coffin. Hezbollah said it did not fire the deadly rocket, but the Israeli government insists that is a lie. After the attack, the Lebanese army reported that they had cleared  some important areas in the southern part of the country and in the eastern part of the Bekaa Valley in  anticipation of an Israeli attack.  The Israeli president returned early to the United States to chair the Security Council and called for a strong response. Benjamin Netanyahu  promised that Hezbollah "will pay a huge debt that it has not yet paid."  Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah should be beheaded, while right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned that Israel is at the end of an all-out war with Hezbollah.

But Israel knows that the war with the Lebanese army has a terrible price for both sides. Hezbollah is the most powerful player in the region, with an estimated 150,000 missiles and rockets. Iran is its most important proxy in the Middle East - and Israel's attacks are pleasing Tehran, which has warned Israel that any "new move" in Lebanon could have "unintended consequences". Israeli soldiers are still in Gaza. Opening another war, where their weapons are low, may not be possible. On the other hand, about 60,000 Israelis have left the area on the Lebanese border in the past few months - and most of them want their government to remove the threat of Hezbollah. Mr. Netanyahu, whose popularity is falling at home, is doing everything for his political survival. Critics say he is prolonging the war in Gaza by demanding a tough deal with Hamas for a ceasefire, knowing he could face early elections and the end of his term once the war ends. The fear is that, weak and under pressure from his right-wing military ministers, he may now try to expand the war in Lebanon, partly for domestic purposes. This is a terrible time. As international calls for restraint grow, the region's tinderbox is waiting to see if the Golan Heights rockets will ignite.