Israel-Hamas war: faced with the risk of the conflict spreading to Lebanon, several countries are recalling their nationals

Will Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza extend to Lebanon? Exchanges of fire are increasing at the border. The military wing of Hezbollah, financed by Iran, has considerable resources.

On the evening of Thursday June 27, around thirty Katyusha rockets launched by Hezbollah from Lebanon passed over the border. They target an important anti-aircraft defense base in the north of the Jewish state.

Since the start of the Israeli offensive against Hamas on October 7, the Lebanese organization has reopened hostilities in support of its Palestinian Islamist brothers. But the measured attacks of the beginning have given way to massive and deeper exchanges of fire. Military confrontations now take place every day. In nine months, the violence has left nearly 500 dead on the Lebanese side, around thirty on the Israeli side. It has also caused the displacement of 140,000 people on both sides of the border, which is no more than 80 kilometers long.

The government of Benjamin Netanyahu, for its part, is fanning the flames. On June 18, the head of Israeli diplomacy threatens to destroy Hezbollah at the end of a “total war“. On June 26, from Washington where he was visiting, the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, taking a hard line, assured that his country had “the ability to take Lebanon back to the Stone Age“.

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah is not left out. He promises to mobilize his troops “without rules and without limits“. His militia, which thrives in a state in economic and political bankruptcy, even threatens to attack the island of Cyprus, which Israel can use as a launching pad for its missiles. The United States has tried in recent days to calm the fever through diplomatic channels. Without success.

Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany have already invited their nationals to leave the country as soon as possible. Berlin is worried about a “increased risk of terrorist attacks“which could target Western foreigners or large hotels. This Thursday, June 27, the United States and Russia called on their citizens not to go there.

France, for its part, says “extremely concerned by the seriousness of the situation“, noting the intensification “dramatically” violence on the border with Israel. Some 23,000 French people currently live in Lebanon. Christophe Lemoine, the deputy spokesman for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calls “all parties to the greatest restraint”.

The military branch of Hezbollah, financed by Iran, has considerable resources: about 50,000 fighters, 150,000 missiles and rockets. It is the most powerful group on Israel’s borders. It is capable of inflicting much greater damage on the Hebrew state than Hamas, which is especially capable of dragging the entire region into war. The UN has already warned, through the voice of its head of humanitarian affairs: “I see this as the spark that will ignite the powder,” said Martin Griffiths. une extension of the war would be “potentially apocalyptic” on the humanitarian level.