What Happens if Hezbollah Makes Good on its Vow to Escalate Violence in the Middle East?

EIRUT, LEBANON – OCTOBER 22: Hezbollah supporters chats slogans against Israel while carrying the coffin of a Hezbollah militant killed by IDF while clashing yesterday in southern Lebanon yesterday, through the streets of Dahieh district on October 22, 2023 in Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon’s southern frontier with Israel is seeing its most active fighting in years, as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group has traded cross-border fire with Israel in the last two weeks. Hezbollah says it has lost 19 fighters since Oct. 7, while Israel’s military says seven of its soldiers have been killed on its side of the border since that date. Civilians and journalists have also been killed and wounded. (Photo by Manu Brabo/Getty Images)

Posted: October 25th, 2023

CIPHER BRIEF REPORTING – As supporters of Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim political party Hezbollah bury dozens of militants killed in small-scale clashes with Israeli soldiers since Hamas’s bloody terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, leaders of multiple militant groups backed by Iran, are weighing their next move.

Lebanese Hezbollah’s armed wing is vowing to escalate the violence that has gripped the Middle East if Israel launches an anticipated ground invasion in Gaza, saying in a statement released Wednesday that they have met with leaders of Hamas and the militant group Islamic Jihad to consider how to “achieve a real victory for the resistance”.

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