Is Israel about to be attacked by Lebanon?

Even though Israeli citizens have been hearing for at least a month that a Lebanese attack on Israel is imminent, one hasn’t come. It’s true that barrages of rockets, as well as hostile aircraft invasions, into Israeli territory, continue to occur daily, but no full-scale war as yet.

Now, according to the Arab Post, “Iran has given Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah the green light to escalate its attacks.” But what does that mean? Will it translate into more and longer-range rockets? Will there be an October 7th-style invasion of terrorists who try to breach our borders? Or are they just attempting to frighten us so that we will back down?

What we do know is that the threat comes amidst Iran’s acknowledgment that they are fully convinced that “Israel intends to carry out an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.” Their motive seems to be rooted in the belief that once Israel finishes off Gaza, they will have their sights set on southern Lebanon. It stands to reason that their thinking is, “Why not pre-empt a strike by attacking first?”

Yet, it hasn’t been ignored that each time Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah has appeared in one of his televised broadcasts, his threats have remained measured and lacking specificity, causing experts to believe that the reason he is being so guarded is based on the kind of significant damage he knows that Israel could exact on the country what tremendously suffered in 2006, during a 34-day military strike, when Israel destroyed roads, bridges, civil infrastructure and Beirut’s Airport, resulting in the displacement of an estimated one million Lebanese citizens. 

The conflict, initiated by a border-crossing raid perpetrated by Hezbollah, who killed eight Israeli soldiers and abducted another two, who they eventually killed, was backed by the Iranian military and considered the first Iranian proxy war against Israel. Nasrallah lived to regret it stating, “We never would have captured two Israeli soldiers had we known it would lead to war.” Ironically, Nasrallah’s response, back then, saying that Israel’s “retaliation at such a scale was considered ‘inconceivable’” is almost the exact same wording Hamas terrorists have stated, when Mousa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas official stated, just a few days ago, “Nobody could have anticipated Israel’s and the West’s response to its October 7th massacre.”

But how did they think Israel would respond after the savage massacre where 1200 were brutally slaughtered in ways no one could ever have imagined? Israel is long-suffering, but that ended once they executed their evil plan, which rivaled the worst and most barbaric attacks in history upon innocent non-combatants – just ordinary families, children, elderly and unarmed citizens whose lives came to a cruel end with absolutely no warning.

Now, Israel’s harsh and unrelenting military machine has been on display for nearly five months, giving Nasrallah a front-row seat to what awaits him if he dares to follow the directives of his puppet masters in Tehran. He’s got to know that this won’t end well for him, even if he succeeds in causing great harm to the Jewish homeland. 

Hezbollah, a heavily-armed, non-state terror group is said to have the most sophisticated, long-range rockets that are able to hit, with precision, any target they choose within Israel. Included in their arsenal are anti-aircraft and anti-missile ships, drones and thousands of anti-tank missiles. They boast of having 100,000 fighters and a treasure trove of more than 100,000 rockets. 

The weapons were supplied to them by Iran, Russia and China. While they lack an air force as well as Israel’s combined fighting force, their largest threat comes but claiming they are able to “hit ammonia storage tanks in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, saying the result would be ‘like a nuclear bomb.’”

But despite the threats, Israeli Defense Forces say they are “no longer afraid of sparking war.” Over the course of the last few days, Israel has been striking the terror group both in Lebanon and Syria, with airstrikes, sending a message that we will no longer sit and wait while our northern communities are being attacked every day, several times a day, causing the evacuation of upwards to 100,000 northern residents who will be unable to return to their homes until something is done to restore the peace.

As news pours in about this “green light” development, there is much speculation about how ugly a conflict could get between Israel and Lebanon. One of the greatest fears is that the Iron Dome defense system could easily be overwhelmed. Another serious concern is that “Hezbollah will go for infrastructure first, leaving Tel Aviv without electricity, schools, hospitals and supermarkets.”

It wasn’t that long ago that text messages were being received by most Israelis, encouraging them to be prepared by having a least 72 hours’ worth of supplies in their homes, especially water and batteries. Warned that we could lose our Internet capabilities, cutting us off from even receiving news, many were already beginning to stockpile supplies in the event of a worst-case scenario. But as weeks went by, with no sign of escalation, people began to settle into a more relaxed attitude, thinking that, perhaps, it was all hyped up.

Now, on the last day of February, late in the evening, the fears have, once again, been heightened by new reports that Lebanon is poised to attack. No one wants war, but even as the warnings go forth from the U.S. to wrap things up, Israel has no choice but to defend herself in the event of an Iranian proxy war from our northern neighbors who, similar to Gaza in the south, have been hijacked by vicious and bloodthirsty terror organizations just waiting to pounce the minute they get the go-ahead. Now they have.

Yet, amidst the fears and uncertainty of what may happen, Israel must, now, more than ever, rely upon her protector, even greater than the IDF - the Almighty who has promised to fight for us, because the assurance He gave us has never been more relevant than at this very moment. 

“No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper.” Isaiah 54:17 – although appropriated by people of faith in all kinds of situations, was written especially for the nation of Israel, which could certainly benefit from its fulfillment as we sit on the brink of what could be a serious escalation of the war that we have been fighting for nearly five months.