Hezbollah Strikes Back: How Israel's War Tactics Are Igniting a Regional Inferno

As Israel vowed to continue its attacks against the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a White House emissary visiting Lebanon on Monday said the conflict had “escalated out of control” and called for the enforcement of a United Nations resolution that ended the previous major war between them, in 2006.

Israel’s military campaign against the Iranian-backed armed group, prompted by months of cross-border rocket fire, has set off a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, displacing around a fifth of the population.

The conflict has killed more than 2,400 Lebanese over the past year, according to the country’s health ministry.

After weeks of bombarding Hezbollah’s military and its leaders, the Israeli military shifted targets, saying it had conducted strikes overnight on “dozens of facilities and sites” used by Hezbollah to finance its attacks against Israel. The military said it had targeted Al-Qard al-Hasan, which U.S., Israeli and other officials have accused of operating as Hezbollah’s banking arm. The extent of any casualties was unclear.

Hezbollah has said its rocket and drone attacks on Israel are in solidarity with its ally Hamas, another Iran-backed group, which led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, prompting a devastating Israeli retaliatory campaign in the Gaza Strip.

Last week, the Biden administration expressed hope that the killing of Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar, could create new opportunities for diplomacy. U.S. officials have hoped for months that a cease-fire in Gaza could calm tension…  s on the Israel-Lebanon border and across the region.

But Israeli bombings in Gaza and Lebanon have continued. And even as Mr. Hochstein spoke to reporters in Lebanon, Hezbollah continued to fire rockets toward northern Israel, following its pledges to intensify attacks against Israel in the wake of Mr. Sinwar’s death.

Hezbollah has kept up frequent rocket fire at Israel since after the war with Hamas began, and Israel has responded with airstrikes. Last month, Israel sharply escalated its air war against Hezbollah and sent ground forces across the border.

As in Gaza, Israel is adhering to its longstanding practice of retaliating with overwhelming force, inflicting far heavier casualties and damage than it has sustained.