BEIRUT – If the war escalates into intense conflict, thousands of warring factions from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are capable of returning to Lebanon to unite with the militant Hezbollah faction in its war with Israel, officials from Iran-backed factions and analysts said. Is said.
There has been almost daily shelling along Lebanon’s border with northern Israel since a bloody attack on southern Israel in early October by warring parties from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip triggered the conflict in Gaza.
The situation in the north worsened when an Israeli airstrike killed a senior commander of Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah responded by firing a large number of rockets and explosive drones into northern Israel.
Israeli officials have threatened a military invasion of Lebanon if talks fail to push Hezbollah out of the border.
Over the intervening decade, Iran-backed warring parties from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan fought together in Syria’s 13-year war, helping to tip the balance in favor of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Officials from Iran-backed groups say they may regroup against Israel.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a statement on Wednesday that militant leaders from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other countries have so far announced the sending of thousands of combat troops in support of Hezbollah, but he said the crowd was already is more than 100,000. warring parties.
“We told them, thank you, but we are overwhelmed by the numbers we have,” Nasrallah said.
Nasrallah said its stream method of conflict is the use of only a portion of Hezbollah’s manpower, an apparent connection with specialized fighting groups that fire missiles and drones.
However this will turn into an all-out clash match. Nasrallah hinted at that possibility in 2017 in a statement in which he said the warring parties of Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan “would be partners” in any such conflict.
Officials with the Lebanese and Iraqi teams sponsored through Iran say Iran-backed warring parties would join in from across the region if conflict erupts on the Lebanon-Israel border. Thousands of such warring groups are already deployed in Syria and can easily cross the porous and unmarked border.
One group has already carried out attacks against Israel and its allies since the Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7. Teams of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” say they are using “unity of the arena tactics” and will stop only when Israel ends its offensive against its best friend, Hamas, in Gaza. Will give.
“If a full-scale conflict breaks out, we will (fight) side by side with Hezbollah,” a legitimate from the Iran-backed faction in Iraq told The Related Press in Baghdad, insisting on speaking anonymously about military issues. . He declined to provide additional details.
Wahid, along with someone else from Iraq, said that some of Iraq’s advisers were already in Lebanon.
A member of the Lebanese Iran-backed group, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Iraq’s Common Mobilization Forces, Afghanistan’s Fatemiyoun, Pakistan’s Jenabyoun and the Iran-backed rebel group known as Houthis in Yemen were coming to Lebanon to participate. Can. In a struggle.
Hezbollah expert Qassim Qassir said the current battle is undoubtedly in line with the top generation of firing missiles and no longer wants the wide choice of the warring parties. But when a conflict fails and goes on too long, Hezbollah may need help from outside Lebanon, he said.
“This case may signal (a message) that these are cards that can be used,” he said.
Israel may be mindful of the conceivable influx of international warring parties.
Eran Etzion, the former head of planning for Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, said Thursday at a panel discussion hosted by the Washington-based Heart East Institute that he sees a “high probability” of a “multi-front war.”
He said there could be interference from the Houthis and Iraqi militias and “a huge influx of jihadists from (places) including Afghanistan, Pakistan” into Lebanon and Syrian areas bordering Israel.
Israel’s military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in This Generation televised remarks that since Hezbollah began its attacks on Israel on October 8, it has fired more than 5,000 rockets, anti-tank missiles and drones against Israel.
“Hezbollah’s increasing aggression is bringing us to the brink of broader detente, which could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Hagari said. “Israel will continue to fight against Iran’s axis of evil on all fronts.”
Hezbollah officials have said they do not want a full-scale conflict with Israel but are ready when it happens.
“We have decided that any expansion, no matter how limited, must be countered by an expansion that would prevent such a move,” said Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy head, in a tone typical of this generation’s zeitgeist. and causes great harm to Israel.”
The UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the commander of the UN peacekeeping force deployed on Lebanon’s southern border, Lieutenant General Aroldo Lazaro, said in a joint comment that “the threat of a miscalculation could be sudden and widespread ” The struggle is very real.”
The large-scale war between Israel and Hezbollah culminated in the summer of 2006, when the two fought a 34-day conflict that left approximately 1,200 people dead in Lebanon and 140 in Israel.
As the hostilities began, more than 400 people were killed in Lebanon, most of them from the warring parties, but also including 70 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed. Hundreds of people were displaced on both sides of the border.
Qassir, the analyst, said that if the international warring parties move forward, it would give them support to fight together in Syria within a generation.
“There is a common military language between the forces of the Axis of Resistance and this is very important in fighting a joint battle,” he said.
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