At the beginning of 2025… How does Israel view the Hezbollah front?
The newspaper said that, in the face of these fronts, Israel tried to contain them. It was initially cautious in its response to Iran by targeting only a limited number of targets in April 2024. It also waited in its response to the Houthis, until they killed a person in Tel Aviv in July. Then came the Israeli response, and in addition, it took Israel a long time to start assassinating senior leaders, as Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran, after which Tel Aviv escalated its war on Hezbollah in Mid-September 2024.
She pointed out that the Israeli strikes on Iran in October were more comprehensive than the first strikes in April, and Israel expanded its strikes on the Houthis with 4 total strikes in 2024, but in general, they were not deterred.
The newspaper described the Israeli strategy as coming in stages with the aim of destroying “one enemy” at each stage, because Israel did not feel that it could fight on 7 fronts at the same time, and therefore, it chose its battles carefully, and used special forces and other operations when necessary, in addition to close cooperation. With US Central Command, which has often supported Israel, such as the Iranian attacks in April 2024 and October 2024.
The Israeli newspaper believes that the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria may eliminate one of the fronts, and that Iran is no longer able to consolidate its presence in Syria, but the “Hezbollah” front still represents a problem, and the truce, which lasted 60 days, will end in late January. The second is 2025, and Israel will need to know whether it can extend this truce or not, explaining that Hezbollah has already been subjected to strikes, but it still possesses an arsenal of weapons, and the Houthis In Yemen, they did not back down, in addition to the fact that Hamas and Jihad cells in the northern West Bank pose an additional threat.
The newspaper believes that the year 2025 will witness an ongoing war on multiple fronts, but it will be significantly different from the year 2024, because the Iranian-backed factions felt that they were superior to Israel, but after the events witnessed last year, Israel became in control, which led to divisions. Between these factions, to a greater extent than it was last year.
She added that Israel needs to take advantage of that division to strike Hamas and end the war in the Gaza Strip, noting that if the war in the Gaza Strip does not end, other fronts may catch fire. (Emirates 24)
