Since Monday, Israeli jetfighters have carried out relentless bombardments on southern and eastern Lebanon and parts of the capital Beirut, killing 615 people and wounding hundreds of others.

Israel claimed these strikes targeted senior leadership in Hezbollah to destabilize the militant group and freeze its command structure.

These strikes came following last week's Israeli detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah personnel - and ordinary Lebanese - which killed tens and injured hundreds in the country.

Hezbollah leadership has used pagers and walkie-talkies to evade hacking by Israeli intelligence. 

Analysts have concluded that the production and supply lines of the communication devices were likely intercepted by Israel and booby-trapped before being delivered to Hezbollah. 

The attacks have been widely condemned as indiscriminate, affecting and injuring bystanders and civilians who were in proximity of the communication devices when they exploded. 

This is the first time Israel has systematically attempted to kill all members of Hezbollah leadership and indicated a clear escalation to the constant exchange of missiles between Hezbollah and Israel since the war on Gaza started. 

Full-out war on the horizon
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Prospects of an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah have increased dramatically after the latest intensification of attacks, with some analysts likening the continuing Israeli bombardment of Lebanon to the bombardment of Gaza before its on-ground invasion of the strip. 

The intensity of bombardment on Lebanon, much like that seen in Gaza in 2023, has been unprecedented. 

In one day, Israeli bombardments killed a little less than half the number of people killed in its 2006 war with Hezbollah. 

Hezbollah, much like Hamas, has been dubbed a “terrorist organization” by Israel. 

Several world leaders have voiced concern that these strikes may expand to an all-out regional war. 

Tensions have heightened between Hezbollah and Israel since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, with the latter launching several small-scale attacks on military targets.

Hezbollah has stated that its attacks on Israel are in solidarity with Gazans, who have been experiencing a brutal war that is approaching the one-year mark.

Israel has conducted 83 percent of cross-border attacks on Lebanon between October and June, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project.

Over the past weeks, Israel has been escalating its attacks outside of Gaza, in a clear attempt to draw the region into a war, which could sustain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hold on office. 

US President Joe Biden had previously lamented that there is “every reason” to draw that conclusion. 

Dragging the US back to the Middle East
 

Opening up another front in its war, Israel would hope to receive substantially more support from its main supporter, the US. 

The Iranian-led Axis of Resistance, which includes Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis, has long treated American and Israeli targets as basically the same. 

US targets have been used for reprisals against Israeli attacks, and there is no shortage of US military bases to strike in the region. 

Strikes against US targets may drag Washington further into the war. 

“Washington might retaliate with face-saving strikes,” Deputy Director of the Middle East Programme at the Quincy Institute Adam Weinstein and Senior Non-resident Fellow at the Arab Centre of Washington DC Annelle Sheline wrote.

They caution that “a single miscalculation could lead to uncontrollable escalation.” 

However ironically, Iran may become the source of cool-headedness and measured responses under the leadership of newly elected President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Pezeshkian has run on a platform that supports warmer ties with all countries except Israel, aiming to foster an air of change around his campaign that ultimately won him the election.

Effect of attacks on Hezbollah
 

As Israel intensifies its bombing campaign, marking the deadliest strikes since 2006, the focus on dismantling Hezbollah’s leadership structure signifies a strategic escalation. It aims to inflict heavy losses and destabilize the group's operational capabilities, indicating a willingness to engage in an all-out war that could further inflame regional tensions.

Israel's attempts to cripple the command structure of Hezbollah have not fully succeeded, with the latter launching several counter-attacks over the past few days. 

Hezbollah has also been active in containing the damage from Israeli strikes on its strongholds, organizing rescue efforts for those buried under the rubble and cordoning off dangerous areas. 

It has also stated that members of its command structure who were targeted in Israeli strikes have survived the attempted assassinations, such as Ali Karake, Hezbollah’s top commander in southern Lebanon. 

Militant groups such as Hezbollah have demonstrated their flexibility in naming successors to top leadership positions after high-profile Israeli targeted killings murdered senior leadership members. 

Yehia Sinwar replaced Ismail Haniyeh as chief of Hamas’ political bureau only a week after the latter was killed by an Israeli strike on his special residence in Iran. 

Israel’s history of targeted killing
 

The attacks targeting Hezbollah's leadership are only an intensification of Israel’s policy on targeted killings. 

On 30 July, Israeli airstrikes targeted southern Beirut, killing Hezbollah’s second-in-command Fuad Shukr.

The killing of Shukr has pushed the group to the edge of war with Israel, as it had been trying to avoid an all-out war and even agreed to engage in talks.

Israel’s Supreme Court, the only entity capable of interpreting international law in Israel, issued a ruling in 2006 that assessed the legality of the Israeli government’s policy of “targeted killings” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The court determined that a state of continuous armed conflict exists between Israel and various groups, making the law of international armed conflict applicable.

Israel has long had a policy of targeted assassinations for political gains, with the terms “liquidation” and “preemptive targeted killing” gaining traction in Israeli media and used by Israeli senior officials as early as 2000.