Virtue in the Face of Violence
Prime Minister Netanyahu officially warned the surrounding Arab governments this week, including Syria and Lebanon and the Lebanese military group Hezbollah, that “we will do what is necessary in order to defend ourselves”. This declaration comes after several attempts by terrorists to infiltrate Israel and terrorize its citizens have been thwarted by the Israel Defense Force over the weekend. However, in light of the recent catastrophe in the Lebanon capital, Beirut, Israel has put aside its grievances with the government to help those in need.
Over the last month, Israel and surrounding terror groups have been in a standoff, after an airstrike attributed to the IDF killed a Hezbollah fighter in Syrian territory. Since then, the Golan Heights has been hit by explosives from Syria, but things escalated this past Sunday when the IDF spotted four individuals crossing into Israeli territory planting explosives at an at the time unmanned IDF post along the Syrian border near an area in Tel Fares that previously housed a clinic operated by a Christian charity, under the auspices of the IDF, to treat Syrian victims of the country’s civil war until Syrian forces retook the area and shut down the clinic. In response, the army fired at the men, killing them, and after examining the area found bags of weapons and explosives planted along the border. While the army told reporters that they believed it may have been Iranian proxy militia who were responsible for the attack, this confrontation also comes after a thwarted infiltration attempt from Lebanon by Hezbollah operatives, setting off one of the heaviest exchanges of fire along the Israel-Lebanon border since their war in 2006. As of now, the Israeli government has expressed that it holds Syria at fault for allowing such attacks to take place on their border, and held them accountable at a meeting with UN peacekeepers.
Israel is currently reinforcing their defenses in the areas near the attacks and is bracing itself for more in the coming weeks. However, following Netanyahu’s warnings to the surrounding countries, a massive explosion took place in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, killing over 100 people and injuring thousands. Rumors quickly spread on social media that Israel had caused the explosion, but both Lebanese officials and Israeli officials have said that that isn’t true, and it was an accident. In response to the explosion, the IDF tweeted that “Israel has offered to send humanitarian & medical assistance to Lebanon via security and international channels. This is the time to transcend conflict.”