Israel-Hamas War: Blinken calls on Israel to establish ties with Arab countries
Israel has long considered Hezbollah, with thousands of trained fighters and a deep arsenal of missiles and other weapons, the most formidable enemy on its borders. And Israeli officials say Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in particular poses a major threat.
An attack on Monday in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s stronghold, killed a Radwan troop commanderWissam Hassan al-Tawil, the latest salvo in the back-and-forth attacks across the border that have heightened fears that the war between Israel and Hamas could develop into a regional conflict.
The attack is widely blamed on Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility. Israeli officials have argued that the Radwan unit is focused on attacking northern Israel and is a legitimate target.
Why does Israel call the Radwan unit a threat?
Radwan has been at the forefront of Hezbollah’s long-running conflict with Israel, and the cross-border attacks that have escalated in the three months that Israel and Hamas have been at war. Israeli military analysts say Radwan has taken on the mission to conquer Israel’s northern Galilee region.
Hezbollah and Hamas, which control the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, share a patron in Iran. If Iran and its allies were to make a serious attempt to expand the war, the Israel-Lebanon border would be the most likely place to do so. And since Hamas launched its bloody attack on Israel on October 7, there have been fears that Hezbollah could attempt something similar.
“The Radwan force is committed to duplicating what happened in southern Israel on October 7 in the north,” Tamir Hayman, a retired general who headed Israel’s military intelligence until 2021, said in an interview. “Precisely for that reason it is unacceptable that Israel allows its fighters to remain in the border area.”
Last spring, the Radwan force took part in a rare example of Hezbollah’s public military exercises, showcasing an extensive military arsenal and simulating an infiltration of Israeli territory. Slick propaganda videos produced by Hezbollah show the group’s small-unit tactics and live-fire exercises, interspersed with threats against Israel.
Why are we hearing more about the Radwan Unit now?
The October 7 Hamas attacks also led to intensified strikes and reprisals between Hezbollah and Israel, causing tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border must be evacuated.
In northern Israel, officials and residents have pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protect them from Hezbollah and make it safe to return home.
“We need some kind of guarantee that there is no danger to our citizens in the north,” General Hayman said.
What Israel had treated as a manageable threat now describes it as something more serious, and Israeli leaders have repeatedly mentioned the Radwan unit by name. In December, Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser, told Israeli media that the country “can no longer accept Radwan forces on the border.”
On Sunday, Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli army’s chief spokesman, said a “focus” of its actions in Lebanon was to drive the Radwan force away from the border.
Israeli leaders have increasingly stated in recent weeks that there are only two options to restore calm to the conflict: a diplomatic solution that would move the Radwan forces further from the border, north of the Litani River, or a large-scale Israeli military offensive aimed at achieving the same goal.
So far, US-led efforts to secure a diplomatic solution have not proven successful.
Where did the Radwan force come from?
The origins and composition of the unit are obscure.
The group takes its name from the nom de guerre of its former leader, Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in Syria in 2008. Under his command, the unit played a crucial role in the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, which led to the outbreak of terrorist acts. the Second Lebanon War.
The unit later took part, along with other elements of Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups, in the fight against the Islamic State in Syria. But the fighting over the past three months marked the Radwan force’s most active period against Israel since 2006.
Johnatan Reiss reporting contributed.