All eyes are on Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and what he's going to say during his 6pm speech (Beirut time, 11am eastern in US). There were reports yesterday that he canceled the speech in the wake of the Israeli drone assassination of Hamas deputy head Saleh al-Arouri in a southern Beirut neighborhood. But by day's end Tuesday, it became clear that the speech will go on, which will be his third since the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
Israel's military now says it is on "high readiness for any scenario" after the killing of Arouri along with six other Hamas operatives. As if things in the region weren't on edge enough, amid continuing tit-for-tat fighting between Hezbollah and the IDF along the southern Lebanese border, twin explosions rocked the site of memorial events for the death of IRGC General Qasem Soleimani.
Regional analyst Amal Saad was quoted in The Washington Post as saying Israel's drone strike on Beirut yesterday sent two messages: "One is to Hezbollah: You can’t harbor Hamas operatives anymore. Lebanon is not going to be a sanctuary for Hamas and Islamic Jihad." And "The second, more obvious message, she said, is to Hamas leaders: that nowhere is safe." According to more:
Hezbollah’s challenge, she added, will be to respond in a careful and calculated manner “to ensure that Israel understands that you can’t do this again,” but without dragging the country into a full-scale war.
In August, Arouri told the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen channel that the repeated Israeli threats against his life are “part of the price we pay.” The 57-year-old said he had not expected to make it to his current age, and predicted that assassinations and other actions by the Israeli government could push the region into “a comprehensive war.”
Watch the speech live, expected to begin at 11am eastern...
Additionally, the geopolitical analysis site Moon of Alabama comments on what to expect... "Hizbullah must respond carefully to not give Netanyahoo a reason for a wider attack on Lebanon."
The analysis continues, "On the other side the response must be strong enough and soon enough to give Netanyahoo some trouble. But what kind of operation he will chose to do is yet unknown. I for one expect an unexpected but serious surprise in a direction that Israel has not foreseen."
