Ashkenazi: Hezbollah Shifts the Game’s Rules, Raises Alarm in the ‘Israeli’ Military

By Staff, Agencies

Hebrew “Maariv” military correspondent, Avi Ashkenazi, described the explosion that occurred on Wednesday inside a building in Majdal Zoun, in the western sector of southern Lebanon, in which two “Israeli” soldiers were killed and four others were wounded as a “serious and dangerous incident.”

In his article, Ashkenazi argued that “this incident points to an unfavorable trend for ‘Israel’. Hezbollah is trying - and will continue trying - to wage a guerrilla war on the ground, with the aim of challenging the ‘Israeli’ army.”

“All of this is being carried out under a yellow light and with Iranian timing,” according to his assessment.

He further added: “The ‘Israeli’ response should have been harsh, forceful, and extremely powerful, with no proportionality to the incident. The problem is that the ‘Israeli’ army acted slowly and with confusion yesterday.”

“Several hours passed between the incident and the air force and artillery strikes. The intensity of the attacks was also very measured compared to the severity of the incident. The strike on the village of Al-Mansouri, located within the Yellow Line, was an unplanned action intended to project the image of a ‘homeowner’ who had 'gone mad’,” Ashkenazi stated.

In parallel, Ashkenazi underlined that “In the Gaza arena, the ‘Israeli’ army is trying to exercise extreme caution and maintain balance. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visited Gaza on Wednesday and sought to send a message to the ‘Israeli’ public, particularly residents of the border communities, following restrictions imposed by the political leadership on the army.”

“These restrictions require that any targeted killing in Gaza not carried out strictly in self-defense must receive approval from either the Chief of Staff or the political leadership,” the military correspondent mentioned.

He quoted Zamir as saying: “We are implementing the security doctrine we have established - not only here, but along all of ‘Israel's’ borders. The ‘Israeli’ army stands on the front line, ahead of the settlements and residents, to protect them. In the Gaza Strip, we struck Hamas, significantly weakened it, and changed the security reality. The army will continue to maintain the initiative and operate according to the principle we have set: eliminating threats while protecting communities and residents under all circumstances. We will not allow a threat to emerge on our borders like the one we witnessed on October 7."

Moreover, Ashkenazi assessed that “the coming days will also be challenging for the ‘Israeli’ army in the West Bank. With the approaching holiday season, several new ‘Israeli’ settlements are expected to be established in the occupied West Bank by early September. The beginning of the Jewish holiday period will require the army to transfer increasing numbers of troops from the Gaza and Lebanon fronts to the West Bank”.

He concluded by stating: “It appears that the ‘Israeli’ army will be required to call up more reserve soldiers in the coming days. Meanwhile, an increasing number of regular soldiers who completed 32 months of mandatory service have received emergency reserve call-up orders [Order 8] while still on discharge leave and before surrendering their military IDs, requiring them to report for reserve duty the day after their official discharge during the month of August.”