The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah said Monday a barrage of rockets from Syria against Israeli forces in the occupied Goal Heights last week opens up "a new phase" in the conflict, warning that Israel proper could be the next target for retaliation.
Hassan Nasrallah said that Israel has been informed through an international body that retaliation inside Israel will take place if it crosses "a red line" in Syria, without providing specifics.
Israel on Thursday unleashed a heavy bombardment against what it said were Iranian military installations in Syria on Thursday. It said it was retaliation for an Iranian rocket barrage on its positions in the Golan. It was the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date.
In a televised speech to a rally in Beirut, Nasrallah did not say who carried out the rocket fire into the Golan. He called it retaliation for "Israel's continued aggression against Syria." In past weeks, Israel is believed to have carried out a number of strikes against military bases in Syria, killing Iranian and Syrian troops.
"You as an enemy will not be able to continue to target Syria and the axis of resistance without retaliation," he said, adding, "This qualitative rocket attack establishes for a complete new phase" in the conflict with Israel. The axis of resistance is a reference to Iran and its allies, Syria, Hezbollah and other allied armed groups in the region.
He said the barrage "broke the prestige" of Israel and that the attack, Israel's response and its response against Gaza protests on Monday show it is far from ready to face its opponents.
Nasrallah called the creation of Israel, which marks 70 years of its creation Monday, a "mark of shame" for humanity.
He said the pressure from Israel and the United States on Iran is not just because of its nuclear program, but is in essence because of its support to the Palestinians and other "resistance" groups. He urged the Palestinians not to accept any new U.S. peace plans.
The US formally inaugurated its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday — the concrete culmination of President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.
Simultaneously, Hamas intensified its riots at the Israel-Gaza border — the violent manifestation of its opposition to the very fact of Israel’s existence.
Here are six takeaways from a historic, tumultuous afternoon.
1. No evident American consensus
From an Israeli perspective, Monday’s festive opening of the embassy was a relatively multi-partisan, politically consensual affair. Not only did President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak at the ceremony, but centrist leader Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid warmly praised the relocation, and the leader of the opposition, Labor’s Isaac Herzog, was in supportive attendance.
From an American perspective, by contrast, there was no parallel near-consensus. Naturally, the proceedings were dominated by members of the Trump administration, with Ambassador David Friedman presiding. President Trump — the man who broke with his predecessors and ordered the embassy moved from Tel Aviv — sent a video message, his son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke, his Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin unveiled the seal, and his daughter Ivanka was the first to issue a welcome to the new facility.
But while the American dignitaries included numerous Republican legislators and supporters, no prominent Democratic lawmakers were known to be present. Even former president Barack Obama’s ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, who stayed on in Israel with his family through the end of the school year after his term ended in January, was providing commentary on Hadashot TV news. Although he was invited to Sunday evening’s pre-inauguration event at the Foreign Ministry, he did not get an invitation to the main show.
Asked why Democrats had stayed away from the event, he speculated that they too were concerned about the absence of strategic emphasis on a two-state accord.
2. Hamas’s split screen ‘victory’
For weeks, Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers have been doing their utmost to encourage the Strip’s masses — men, women, and children — to march on the border. On Monday, in the largest such protest, Hamas mobilized an estimated 50,000 people. According to its figures, about 50 Gazans were killed in the ensuing violent clashes; the IDF said at least 10 of the fatalities had been identified as Hamas members by Monday evening. Ironically, a death toll of that order is considered by the cynical Islamist movement to be a victory of sorts, since it focuses global attention on the Palestinians.
Hamas’s overall goal, as its leaders have repeatedly told Gazans in recent weeks, is to “liberate Palestine” — as in, to eliminate Israel. It recently disseminated a video in Hebrew showing young Gaza children vowing they would be “returning to our homeland.
3. Why the gunmen stay back
Shortly before the embassy opening, and as the violence escalated at the Gaza border, Israel’s Shin Bet security agency released details of intelligence it had gleaned from arrested Hamas terror suspects that, it said, threw light on the Hamas border tactics.
According to this information, Hamas has been telling its gunmen not to venture too near to the border, where they can be identified and targeted by Israeli troops; on the first Friday of protests in March, Hamas confirmed that five of its members were killed, and the Israeli army identified several others. Since then, Hamas has stopped acknowledging such fatalities.
Instead, according to the Shin Bet evidence, Hamas encourages Gaza civilians to get close to the fence, and keeps its armed forces back and ready — ready to bust through the border into Israel should the opportunity arise.
4. Eyes on the West Bank
Hamas has also been trying to foment violence in the West Bank. In this, it has had some support from its rival/partner, the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas. Hadashot TV news said the PA was encouraging protests on Monday, including by showing the Gaza border clashes on television in a live feed.
Monday did see a surge in West Bank violence. At the Qalandiya crossing, north of Jerusalem, hundreds marched and threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded with live fire, tear gas, and rubber-coated steel pellets. Clashes were also reported south of Jerusalem, near Bethlehem and in Hebron.
5. Heady days for Netanyahu
The embassy inauguration was an American event, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a central feature — hailing Trump’s courage in making the move, declaring that “we are here in Jerusalem, and we are here to stay.”
These are heady days for the Israeli prime minister, especially given his alliance with Trump. The Americans have recognized Jerusalem. Allies in the EU prevented a European denunciation of the embassy move. A trickle of other countries are moving legations to the capital. Over 30 countries sent representatives to the Foreign Ministry event on Sunday.
Not much in this part of the world is permanent, however. Iran is a patient and pernicious enemy. It has not abandoned its nuclear quest. It has a highly armed military tool in the shape of Hezbollah, with immense missile capabilities and Syrian battle experience. Hamas is vicious, cynical, and creative. The West Bank is thoroughly unpredictable; Abbas, 82, is on his last legs and, however unpalatable he has become, any successor will be still less comfortable for Israel.
6. And finally
Not much in this part of the world is permanent. But the Jewish connection to Jerusalem, underlined in Monday’s embassy move and so widely resisted among the Palestinians, comes pretty close.
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