At the University of Haifa, less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Israeli-Lebanese border, they are taking no chances.
The morning after a rocket landed on a football field in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, killing 12 children and teenagers, university authorities announced that all employees above the fifth floor of the 30-story building should work from home . Concerns are growing that they are coming under fire from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
“During the last war with Hezbollah in 2006, their weapons reached Haifa,” Esther Papara, a staff member at the university, told me. “This is a dangerous moment. Parents are helping police and guards patrol kindergartens. I am avoiding crowded places. We do not seek war, but Hezbollah wants to destroy Israel and the Jewish people, so we can let them do it Instead of defending yourself?
Cross-border fighting between Israel and Lebanon has intensified since Hezbollah fired rockets and artillery shells at Israeli sites on October 8 Solidarity with Hamas for its attack on Israel a day earlier. Both organizations call for the destruction of the Israeli state.
Hezbollah frequently attacks northern Israel and the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria during the 1967 war and annexed in 1981. , apparently in response to Saturday’s rocket launch.
Tit-for-tat attacks have killed more than 450 people in Lebanon since October, including about 100 civilians, while Israel said 23 civilians and 17 soldiers were killed. Skirmishes were relatively limited, suggesting both sides aimed to avoid a direct confrontation.
Mapping destruction on the Israel-Lebanon border
But the question now is what steps Israel will take to respond to Saturday’s tragedy, the biggest casualty in a cross-border attack since October.
Thousands of people filled the town’s streets, gathering around the small white coffin and holding flowers and photos to mourn the young victim. Hezbollah claims they did not fire the deadly rockets, but the Israeli government insists this is a lie. It is said that after the attack, Lebanese militants preemptively cleared some key locations in the south of the country and the eastern Bekaa Valley in order to attack the country. Massive Israeli attack.
Amid calls for a strong counterattack, the Israeli Prime Minister returned from the United States early to chair a security cabinet meeting. Benjamin Netanyahu promised that Hezbollah would “pay a heavy price that has not yet been paid.”
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah should “pay with his head”, while far-right Finance Minister Bezaleh Smotrich warned Israel was Close to all-out war with Hezbollah.
But Israel knows that such a war with Lebanese militant groups could be devastating for both sides.
Hezbollah is the most powerful non-state actor in the region, with an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles in its arsenal. It is Iran’s most important proxy in the Middle East and an Israeli attack could attract Tehran, which has warned Israel that any “new adventures” in Lebanon could lead to “unforeseen consequences”.
Israeli forces remain stretched thin in Gaza. Opening another military front when they are low on ammunition may simply not be feasible.
On the other hand, some 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from Lebanese border areas in the past few months, with many demanding that the government eliminate the threat from Hezbollah.
Mr Netanyahu’s approval ratings at home have plummeted and he is struggling to maintain his political survival. Critics claim he prolongs the Gaza war by pressing Hamas for a stricter ceasefire, knowing he could face early elections and the end of his career once the fighting stops.
The fear is that, under pressure from far-right militant ministers, he may now expand the fight into Lebanon because of domestic political goals.
This is a dangerous moment. While international calls for restraint from both sides grow louder, the powder keg region is waiting to see whether the Golan Heights rockets will spark a conflagration.
