A large explosion occurred in Lebanon’s capital Beirut during Tuesday evening.
Israel has claimed responsibility for the attack – which blames Hezbollah for this weekend’s deadly attack on the Golan Heights.
– I interpret it as a response that aims to highlight – but not escalate, says Middle East expert Anders Persson to TV4 Nyheterna.
According to information provided to Reuters, the attack was directed at a top commander within Hezbollah.
Israeli Haaretz reports that the target was Fouad Sukar, described as number two in the Hezbollah hierarchy.
His status is unclear.
At least two other people are said to have died.
“In line with expectations”
Israel has singled out Hezbollah as responsible for Sunday’s rocket attack on a village in the Golan Heights, where several children were killed.
The evening’s answer was therefore completely expected, says Anders Persson, senior lecturer at the Department of Political Science at Linnaeus University.
– It is in line with expectations. Israel had a few different options to choose from and this is an answer that I would say is for highlighting. It is a high-value target that is being attacked because it is a high-ranking person in Hezbollah that has been targeted, he says.
– The aim is not to escalate as it appears to be a targeted attack on this leader. But if it is a large number of civilians who have died or been injured – which we do not know at this point – then it is clear that it puts pressure on Hezbollah to respond. So now the ball ends up in their half and it’s up to them to respond if they want to.
Yesterday 22:12
The foreign affairs commentator after Israel’s attack: “Unclear if he is alive”
I don’t think Israel wants to escalate the situation further
He says he doesn’t interpret it as a full-scale war – yet.
– We are in the middle of a situation where we do not know how it will end, he says.
– We are in a situation where many different scenarios are possible, and we don’t know what Hezbollah’s decision-making looks like, but I can’t see it as Israel aiming to escalate this further. But it is possible that Hezbollah makes a different analysis.
How important is Fouad Sukar, who is reported to have been the target of the attack?
– It is a person who is really unknown to the common man, but it is a person who has a long history in Hezbollah, all the way back to its foundation. One reason why Israel has waited with this is that they wanted to get him in the loophole and knock him out.