US officials speak out ABC news that “small-scale operations” or troop movements on the Lebanese border have begun or will begin.
“Land invasion probable”
Israel is prepared for a ground invasion, but has not decided yet, according to the sources.
– For the media in Israel, it is military censorship that applies. So they cannot tell whether they have crossed the border or not. One can assume that if they really want to push Hezbollah, they will do some kind of ground invasion, says Bitte Hammargren, senior employee at the Foreign Policy Institute, in Agenda.
Aron Lund, Middle East analyst at the Total Defense Research Institute, believes a ground invasion is likely:
– I think that has been the plan all along. Israel wants to control the border and then ground operations feel like the reasonable way to do it. When things have gone so well for Israel, it would be unlikely not to follow up with what you can, he says in Agenda.
“Iran has lost its tool”
In the past week, 1,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed on Friday and according to Israel, the military has killed several leaders in Hezbollah.
– Iran has had Hezbollah as one of its main tools in the region. Iran has now lost it. So it is difficult to know how Iran will act, but so far the country has been quite low, says Aron Lund.
– It has turned out that Iran does not really want to be involved in a direct confrontation with either Israel or the United States, says Bitte Hammargren.