World
The challenges facing Israel as it battles conflict on seven fronts
Israel has fought a shadow war against Iran and its proxies for decades, but the past year has seen hostilities erupt into open conflict on seven fronts.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, listed the battlegrounds as Iran, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, Shia militants in Iraq, militant groups in Syria as well as Palestinian fighters in the West Bank.
“In defending ourselves against this barbarism, Israel is defending civilisation against those who seek to impose a dark age of fanaticism on all of us,” he said in a statement over the weekend.
“Rest assured, Israel will fight until the battle is won – for our sake and for the sake of peace and security in the world.”
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But while this country has a hugely powerful military, equipped with the most modern weapons and technology, it is only finite in size and strength.
It is why Israeli commanders did not immediately start a major offensive against Hezbollah on 8 October last year when the paramilitary group began launching rockets into northern Israel.
That attack was in solidarity with Hamas after Israeli forces started their assault on Gaza in response to the 7 October atrocities.
At that time, Israel knew it would be difficult to prosecute two large-scale wars simultaneously, especially as Hezbollah is also far bigger, better trained and better armed than Hamas.
Instead, the Lebanon front was only fully opened last month when the focus of Israeli operations largely shifted from Gaza in the south up to the north.
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IDF: ‘Killed around 20,000 Hamas fighters’
Another limiting factor for Israel is the fact that it relies heavily on the United States to continue to supply weapons and ammunition for its military offensives and to step in to defend its skies on the two occasions so far when Iran has directly attacked.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), drawing on its large pool of reserves, has fought tirelessly since 7 October but analysts say commanders and their political masters must be careful to avoid over-reaching and setting unrealistic goals.
It is notable that 12 months after the first strikes of this war by Israeli troops into Gaza, Hamas – while heavily degraded – still has the ability to launch rockets into Israel.
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Timeline of events since 7 October
It underlines the challenge Israel faces as it fights to stop Hezbollah strikes from Lebanon as well as missiles and drones launched from Yemen, Iraq and Syria, while at the same time preparing to launch another direct attack on Iran.
Then there is the issue of mounting pressure on Israeli political leaders – as well as their enemies – to agree to a ceasefire in the face of the scale of civilian deaths and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza and now in Lebanon.
Israel’s reliance on airstrikes from a distance against Hamas and Hezbollah targets, which are often located in civilian areas, has caused significant civilian casualties despite Israeli commanders saying they take care to minimise collateral damage.
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The official death toll released by Palestinian health officials in Gaza is more than 41,500. The number does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas militants but the majority of the identified victims are women and children, according to the Reuters news agency.
The number of people killed in Lebanon, where Israel began a wider offensive three weeks ago, is also growing, with health officials saying more than 2,000 people have died, though again not distinguishing between Hezbollah fighters and civilians.
As well as the mounting death toll, many more civilians have been injured, while around three million people in Gaza and Lebanon combined have had to flee their homes.
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The civilian suffering means that the Israeli government – which should have sympathy and support following the 7 October massacre by Hamas – is instead facing growing criticism on the conduct of its war even from some of its closest allies.
Yet, Israel, like every country on the planet, has a right to self-defence and, in a region where many of its neighbours deny the nation’s very right to exist, the only action that has any effect is all too often hard, brutal, relentless military power.