Hezbollah still holding back, Israel should preemptively strike, expert says

Israel should launch a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS) think tank, told Zvika Klein on The Jerusalem Post Podcast, noting that the Lebanese terrorist group is still keeping some of its most devastating weapons, its long-range missiles, in reserve.

He explained that they already have considerably advanced capabilities, and Israel's current strategy of waiting and containing the threat means "we allow Hezbollah to arm [and] to improve their accuracy. And I think this is an intolerable situation."

Inbar further noted that despite Israel's main goal now is to help the northern evacuees return home, they have still not tried to dislodge Hezbollah, who he says continues to wage a war of attrition on the Jewish state.

"There is an ongoing war of attrition [waged] by Hezbollah. And since we are busy in the South, in Gaza, we decided that the northern front as secondary and not to react more forcefully to put an end to what Hezbollah is doing," he explained.

There have been calls from local Lebanese efforts to try and deescalate the situation in the North. But this has had little effect. 

"The only actor who calls the shots in Lebanon is Hezbollah, and they have not paid attention to what is happening in the rest of the country," Inbar said.

In addition, Hezbollah hasn't shown all its cards yet. When asked by Klein about whether there is anything the Lebanese terrorist group might be keeping in reserve in order to respond to any Israeli attack, Inbar noted "We have not seen yet the long-range missiles," adding "If we go to war with Hezbollah, we may definitely see the launching of those missiles."

Despite this, Inbar said Israel hasn't underestimated Hezbollah. Rather, "I think we were under the wrong impression that we were deterring them, the same misconception with Hamas

Should Israel wait for a diplomatic solution?

Both Klein and Inbar noted the importance of Israel needing international support for any attack on Hezbollah, however, the JISS president said that there are certain times when Israel should act independently. 

"We should know that if we are successful, the world will be with us," he said. "It's the less recommended solution, and so we should pay some attention to what the Americans and the French nowadays are doing, but we should not wait. Because they don't want an escalation... they want quiet."