Emergency workers dig through the rubble of a bombed building in Beirut<\/p>\n
Hezbollah has been hit hard by a series of Israeli strikes in recent days. Air-strikes, booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies have killed or wounded dozens of Hezbollah fighters, including some top commanders.<\/p>\n
However, although Hezbollah has been hit hard it is far from finished. It still has a formidable arsenal, tens of thousands of battle-hardened fighters and a command structure that is largely intact. More importantly perhaps, it still has the backing of the backing of Israel\u2019s arch regional nemesis, Iran.<\/p>\n
If Israel wanted to destroy Hezbollah it still has much work to do. But that\u2019s not what motivated recent Israeli actions. Instead, we believe, Israel has been trying to escalate the conflict with the object of igniting a wider regional war.<\/p>\n
This would then open the way for U.S. intervention, giving the Zionist state the longed for opportunity to launch joint air-strikes on its arch-enemy Iran.<\/p>\n
This is not something that Israel could accomplish alone. It would need U.S. help to first neutralise Iran\u2019s air defences and radars, ideally with cruise missile strikes. Only then would the U.S.\/Israel fighters be able to strike at what they see as the \u2018jewel\u2019 in Iran\u2019s crown, its nuclear facilities. Ed.<\/p>\n
Three children and seven women were among 37 people killed by an Israeli strike on Beirut that targeted a top Hezbollah<\/a> leader in a densely populated neighbourhood, Lebanese authorities have said, as US and UN officials warned against further escalation.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Israel closed its northern airspace as it awaited Hezbollah retaliation for the assassination of Ibrahim Aqil<\/a>, a veteran commander of the elite Radwan unit, along with more than a dozen other militants. On Saturday afternoon, fires broke out after a barrage of rockets from Lebanon.<\/p>\n Airlines including Air France, Turkish Airlines, and Aegean cancelled flights to Beirut, reflecting fears that a tumultuous week had pushed the region closer to full-blown war.<\/p>\n The strike on Aqil destroyed an underground bunker and brought down the building on top of it during rush hour, when the streets were filled with people returning from home and school. On Saturday, workers were still digging through the rubble, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n Israel has not visibly slowed its war in Gaza to focus on the north. On Saturday its forces bombed a school turned shelter, killing at least 22 and injuring 30 others, mostly women and children, the Gaza health ministry said. Israel\u2019s military said the target was a Hamas base inside the school, without providing details or evidence.<\/p>\n Last week, however, Israel said it was expanding its strategic aims for the Gaza war to include returning 60,0000 evacuated residents of northern Israel to their homes, which are regularly targeted by Hezbollah. It then unleashed a series of unprecedented attacks on the group.<\/p>\n