Israel¡¯s shift to a riskier, more aggressive posture toward Lebanon¡¯s Hezbollah ¡ª exploding pagers, striking Beirut and targeting commanders ¡ª came about both suddenly and gradually.
Suddenly, because there were indications that Hezbollah members had become suspicious about the booby-trapped pagers, so a decision to set them off was made at the last minute, according to people with knowledge of the matter. And gradually, because Israel¡¯s military has been preparing since 2006 for war with the Iran-backed group.
The attacks mark a new approach aimed at preemptively degrading Hezbollah¡¯s military prowess so that the group won¡¯t be able to launch an attack similar to the Oct. 7 strike by Hamas on southern Israel, officials say. A second goal is to create the conditions that might drive a hobbled Hezbollah to make concessions about how close its troops and missiles will remain to the Israeli border.
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