There was the worst firefight between Israel and Hezbollah since 2006

In the past few hours, Israel and Hezbollah have launched hundreds of missiles, rockets and drones.Is the heaviest mutual attack in recent months the prelude to a new war?

• On the night of August 25, Israel fired approximately 100 missiles and rockets into Lebanon against Hezbollah rocket launchers.
• Hezbollah responded with approximately 320 rockets and drones against Israeli military targets, mostly intercepted.
• Since October 7, the toll of the clashes between Israel and Hezbollah has been around 500 dead in Lebanon and sixty in Israel.

In the early hours of August 25th there was a massive exchange of fire between Israel and the Lebanese political-military organization Hezbollah.Israel fired missiles and rockets at Hezbollah positions in the south of Lebanon, speaking of an action "preventative" in view of an imminent attack by the Lebanese organization.The latter responded with approximately 320 rockets and drones, directed against Israeli military targets.

The death toll is three among Hezbollah and one in the Israeli army.The skirmishes have ended for the moment, but they could be the prelude to a clash on a large scale.

The tension between Israel and Hezbollah

The one on August 25th was the heaviest firefight between Israel and Hezbollah in recent months.Over the course of the night, Israel launched around a hundred missiles and rockets against it rocket launcher of the Lebanese political-military organization, an attack that caused the death of three people.Hezbollah responded during the morning, launching approximately 320 rockets and drones against Israeli military bases and defense positions in the north of the country and in the Golan Heights, illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.An Israeli soldier was killed in the attack.

Israel defined the military operation launched during the night as “preventive”, pointing out that Hezbollah was planning an attack against the country.The Lebanese organization has repeatedly promised vendetta for the Israeli raid on Beirut on July 30, which killed Muhsin Shukr, one of its leaders, as well as several civilians, and for the subsequent July 31 attack in Tehran, Iran, which he killed Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas.

Israel announced that about half of the rockets fired by Hezbollah were intercepted by air defense system and that the damage from the attack was limited.The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, he claimed the attack in a speech to the nation, underlining that for the moment the operation is concluded but that there could be an operation in the near future new attacks to Israel.

Towards a large-scale war?

Since the October 7 Israel has begun its offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has so far cost the lives of over 40 thousand Palestinians, the already precarious relations with the Lebanese political-military movement Hezbollah have deteriorated.Hezbollah is a close ally of the radical Palestinian organization Hamas and in recent months it has come to conflict with Israel several times on the northern border of the country.

Israel and Hezbollah have launched thousands of rockets, missiles and drones at each other.The budget so far it's about over 500 people killed in Lebanon and about sixty in Israel.The mutual attack on 25 August was the heaviest in terms of the number of rockets, missiles and drones in recent months and this raises fears that it could be the prelude to a total war in the Middle East.

The most extremist fringe of the already extremist Israeli government leans towards a large-scale operation against Hezbollah, as it is doing against Gaza Hamas, but the main Israeli allies, such as the United States, are against this possibility.Even within the ranks of Hezbollah, the aim is to avoid a large-scale clash for the moment, limiting activity to operations demonstrative like that of the last hours, which the ally also favors Iran.At the moment a war is not convenient for either party, but the balance appears increasingly fragile.