Hezbollah threatening Israel with a two-front war

Hezbollah intensified its attacks in northern Israel on June 2, firing barrages of rockets over the border that set off massive wildfires. This came two days after the Lebanese armed group revealed that it had downed one of Israel’s most advanced drones – the most recent of several successful air defense operations.

The events of October 7 had already marked the collapse of Israel’s national security doctrine. Three of the four components – deterrence, early warning and defense – had failed completely. The conflict with Hezbollah, which Israel has been fighting alongside its war on Gaza, continues to damage these beyond repair.

Hezbollah, which is part of the broader Iranian-backed “axis of resistance” with the Ansarullah (commonly known as the Houthi) movement in Yemen and other groups in Syria and Iraq, has demonstrated its developing military, intelligence and media capabilities since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The group has gradually introduced new missiles to the conflict that are more precise and destructive. And it has also demonstrated its ability to identify weaknesses in Israel’s air defense systems, generate targets and execute complex operations almost daily.

On June 3, for example, Hezbollah announced that it had launched a squadron of drones towards the headquarters of the Israeli military’s Galilee formation (the division responsible for the front with Lebanon) for the first time.

Most of Hezbollah’s drones are successfully penetrating Israeli air space because they are flown at low altitudes to avoid detection.

The recent increase in violence across the border is, at least in part, a consequence of Iran’s attack on Israel in April. The attack, although widely claimed a failure, was ultimately a