Middle East analyst Yoni Ben-Menachem assesses that Hezbollah feels an existential threat from the emerging Israel-Lebanon agreement and will try every means to sabotage it, including a possible return to suicide bombings and explosive drone attacks. He adds that Lebanese political commentators are raising the prospect that the terror group could carry out a political assassination to derail the deal.
Middle East analyst Yoni Ben-Menachem warned Monday morning that Hezbollah sees the emerging agreement between Israel and Lebanon as an existential threat and will attempt to sabotage it by any available means, including a return to suicide bombings and explosive drone attacks. Ben-Menachem, a well-known commentator on regional affairs, also noted that political commentators in Lebanon are discussing the possibility the terror group could carry out a political assassination to block the deal.
His assessment aligns with a thread The Zioneer has tracked over the past two weeks: on June 20, analyst Yossi Yehoshua assessed that Iran was using Hezbollah to apply military pressure aimed at forcing an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon as negotiations proceeded. Hezbollah itself publicly rejected the framework deal on June 26, calling it a series of "unilateral concessions" that would lead to the destruction of the state, while a June 16 bulletin recorded Hezbollah threatening to destroy "Zionist forces" in Lebanon if the agreement were violated.
The analyst's comments add an escalation-focused layer to what has been a growing body of warnings from Israeli and regional voices that Iran and Hezbollah view the pact as a strategic threat to be countered. Ben-Menachem's reference to suicide bombings — a tactic Hezbollah has not widely used in recent years — and political assassination marked a sharpening of the risk assessment, though the report is based on a single source.
- DevelopingIsrael assesses Iran and Hezbollah will try to sabotage Israel-Lebanon agreement
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- DevelopingHezbollah threatens destruction of Israeli forces if agreement is violated
- StrongAnalyst: Iran links Lebanon-Hezbollah file to broader US nuclear talks
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