Hezbollah in the sights

Green light for revenge attack on Lebanon

An Israeli military helicopter near the Golan Heights

(Bild: APA/AFP/Jalaa MAREY)

The Israeli security cabinet has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to attack Lebanon after twelve children and young people were killed by a rocket fired by the Lebanese Hezbollah in the Israeli-occupied Golan. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intervenes and threatens the Jewish state with an invasion by his military.

In Lebanon and its capital Beirut, the nerves of most inhabitants have been on edge for months - for fear of an Israeli attack and the possible outbreak of a really big war. Following the death of twelve children and teenagers when a rocket fired by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah hit a soccer pitch on the Israeli-occupied Golan, the situation is even more tense.

All the victims of the rocket attack on the Druze village of Majdal Shams were between ten and 20 years old.

(Bild: APA/AP)

(Bild: AP/Gil Eliyahu)

(Bild: AP)

In the streets of Beirut, whose southern suburbs are firmly in Hezbollah hands, the cars were jammed as they are every day, but the atmosphere was like the calm before the storm. The national airline did not allow many planes that had just been abroad to fly back to Beirut. Some international airlines reacted similarly and removed Beirut from their flight schedules.

Reports: Hezbollah has evacuated many positions as a precautionary measure
In fact, it cannot be ruled out that the Israeli air force will target Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon as well as Hezbollah targets in Beirut or the airport in its expected revenge attack. According to reports, Hezbollah has already evacuated many of its positions as a precaution.

Hezbollah fighters are ready for war.

(Bild: AP)

Erdogan threatens to invade
Meanwhile, Turkish President Erdogan caused an international stir. He threatened Israel with an invasion by the Turkish military, saying: "Just as we went into Nagorno-Karabakh and just as we went into Libya, we will do the same to them." This threat is not really to be taken seriously, but it goes down very well with Erdogan's home audience.

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz then compared Erdogan to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who was overthrown in 2003 after a US invasion and executed three years later: "Erdogan is following in Saddam Hussein's footsteps and threatening to attack Israel. He should only remember what happened there and how it ended."