Israel is Escalating its Shadow War with Iran. Here's What to Know. By Joseph Hincks – Time Magazine
The protracted shadow war between Israel and Iran has spilled beyond the borders of Syria following a series of attacks in Iraq and Lebanon blamed on Israel, and threats of Hezbollah retaliation that reporters in Israel and Lebanon say has prompted the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to station dummy soldiers in jeeps along its northern border.
Israel’s state of high alert over potential cross border attacks comes days after U.S. officials leaked confirmation Israel was behind a July bombing at a weapons factory in Iraq—which they said Iran was using to transport weapons to Syria. Lebanon blamed Israel for a drone strike on Sunday in the suburbs of Beirut. Following Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s meeting with United Nations Security Council envoys to protest what he called a “clear Israeli violation of Lebanese sovereignty” on Monday, the U.N. called on both sides to exercise “maximum restraint.”
Israel, which traditionally maintains a policy of ambiguity over oversees military operations, has not taken responsibility for either the Iraq attack or the Beirut drone strike, although its military said it had carried out a separate airstrike on Saturday near the Syrian border in order to foil an “imminent” drone attack planned by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah (Iran has denied planning the strike.) Despite the lack of official confirmation, Israeli media reports that the Beirut drone strike damaged equipment that would have enhanced Hezbollah’s precision guided rocket program. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanon-based Iran-backed Shi’ite militia force claimed the strike was Israel’s first attack in Lebanon since the two countries fought a bloody war in 2006 and promised retaliation. “I say to the Israeli army on the border from tonight, stand guard. Wait for us one, two, three, four days,” Nasrallah said Sunday. Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, likened Israel’s alleged actions to a “declaration of war” and said Lebanon had the right to defend itself…