Yet another war in the Middle East could bring devastation and tremendous international repercussions. So many people around the globe breathed a sign of relief Thursday as word broke that Hezbollah said it does not want to further escalate hostilities against Israel.
Still, after days of missile attacks by the Lebanese militant group and return fire and airstrikes by Israel, tensions are high. The possibility that a full-scale military confrontation could erupt — as it did in 2006 — remains.
While regional politics are at play, numerous other major factors are as well — including oil prices, ISIS, Iran’s nuclear dispute with the West and the threat of Hezbollah terrorist attacks around the world.
Here’s a look at what’s happening.
The fighting
This week, Hezbollah fired five anti-tank missiles at Israeli military vehicles near the Lebanese border, killing two soldiers and wounding seven others.
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But there’s another way Hezbollah can flex its muscle: through further terrorist attacks elsewhere in the world, said Levitt.
The group has a long history of attacks overseas, including one at the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983 that killed 241 Americans.
Bulgaria found Hezbollah was behind an attack on a bus that killed five Israeli tourists in 2012.
Peru reported thwarting a bomb attempt late last year. Authorities announced they would press charges against a man who confessed to being a member of Hezbollah, Reuters reported.
Ever since Hezbollah’s military chief Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a 2008 bombing in Damascus, Syria, Hezbollah has been trying to carry out new terrorist attacks around the world in response, Levitt said.
Mughniyeh’s son Jihad was one of the Hezbollah operatives killed in the Israeli airstrike in Quneitra last week.
