Hezbollah Attacks Israeli Barracks in the Golan
2024-06-05156 view
On June 2, Hezbollah-linked media outlets and Israeli army radio reported that the Lebanese group had carried out a complex drone attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The two sides gave diverging reports on how much damage the operation had caused: Hezbollah said its drones had hit Israel’s Yerden barracks in the occupied Syrian territory, destroying a radar facility that is part of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, while Israel’s army radio said the drones had come down in open countryside.
Whatever the truth, a Hezbollah drone attack on Israeli positions in the occupied Syrian Golan has important implications.
The operation appears to have been intended to deliver a message after Israel carried out military exercises including scenarios of a full-scale war on its northern front or on multiple axes. The Lebanese movement wished to demonstrate that it is capable not only of striking targets across the border with Israel, but also of implementing tactics used by Iranian-funded militias in both Iraq and Yemen: dispatching drones from multiple locations, aimed at various areas of Israel. This implies that the front between the two sides could expand, including into the Golan, which has been largely calm since the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
As was the case with similar, symbolic attacks Iranian and Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have launched from Syria, the Hezbollah attack also serves the interests of Russia. Russia has deployed approximately 14 military observation positions in southern Syria since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, exploiting Israel’s security needs to strengthen its own position in the border region and give it leverage over Israel. The dynamics of the situation in Syria have played a major role in discouraging Israel from backing Ukraine in its war with Russia. The Kremlin has also leveraged Israel’s security concerns to promote the regional reintegration of the Syrian regime.
Therefore, although the Hezbollah attack sent a message that the scope of its conflict with Israel could expand, it was intended more for symbolic, propaganda purposes than for military goals. It is therefore unlikely to lead to a further tit-for-tat confrontations like those taking place in southern Lebanon. The Syrian regime, for its part, is keen to avoid an escalation there, especially in light of Israeli warnings to President Bashar al-Assad to distance himself from the ongoing conflict in Gaza—a path the regime is inclined to follow, and Russia is content to sponsor.
