Three fronts, growing pressure: Israel shifts focus across the region

Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

Israel’s security and political attention is increasingly divided across three fronts: southern Lebanon, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

On the Lebanon front, Israeli security officials have acknowledged that operations at Ali al-Taher hill have reached a stalemate, with continued military activity failing to produce a decisive outcome while exhausting troops and complicating negotiations with Lebanon.

Israel has also walked back earlier claims that members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were present at the site.

However, Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon have not eased. Israeli sources say U.S. President Donald Trump has given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu room to carry out preemptive military operations in both southern Lebanon and Gaza.

Meanwhile, the West Bank has moved into sharper focus following violent attacks by extremist settlers on the town of Qusra. Israel is considering redeploying military units from Lebanon and Gaza to the West Bank, including the 98th Commando Division and the 162nd Armored Division.

The developments come amid expectations of an unprecedented escalation in the West Bank, which has also emerged as an issue in Israel’s election campaign.

Despite Netanyahu’s rare characterization of settler violence as terrorism, assessments suggest his right-wing bloc is seeking political gains ahead of parliamentary elections in two months.

Tensions have also emerged between Israel’s political and military leadership over the handling of settler violence, which has drawn international condemnation.

Reports indicate that some attacks on Palestinian homes have taken place in full view of Israeli troops. Military commanders, in turn, have accused Netanyahu of seeking to escalate tensions for electoral reasons, pointing to his request for the military to prepare a plan for a scenario in which Palestinian security forces turn their weapons against Israeli troops in the West Bank.