“Israel”: [Sayyed] Nasrallah has The Upper Hand 

Translated by Al-Ahed News 

“Israeli” media reports revealed that Tel Aviv is busy trying to detach one area of conflict from another. In other words, the “Israelis” want to segregate the fighting in Gaza from their so-called “defense” of the northern border with Lebanon.

“Following the speech delivered by [Hezbollah Secretary-General His Eminence Sayyed] Hassan Nasrallah, on Friday, forecasts by relevant bodies suggest he is not headed towards an escalation of the confrontation. Meanwhile, ‘Israel’ is not interested in working in two arenas simultaneously,” one report explains.

Political correspondent for “Israel’s” KAN channel, Gili Cohen, believes “the leadership in ‘Israel’ is dealing with the northern arena with a great deal of fear and thinks Hezbollah is not interested, at least currently, in an all-out war, but wants to carry on with skirmishes along the border.”

"‘Israel's’ primary goal is still to prevent war in the north and the Gaza Strip, but it seems that in this case also Sayyed Nasrallah is the one who has the upper hand, not ‘Israel’," Cohen added. 

For his part, the Maariv newspaper’s Tal Lev-Ram said, “The visit by Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy to the northern region and his choice, for the second time in a few days, to send messages to Hezbollah that ‘Israel’ is ready for war in the northern arena practically reveals everything.” 

"We’ve seen an additional level of advancement by Hezbollah in its operations against ‘Israel’ in recent days, and these operations reflect Hezbollah's willingness to gradually escalate the situation in the northern arena as well," the military analysts said.

According to Tal Lev-Ram, “The assessment in ‘Israel’ is that Hezbollah may step up its responses in the coming days, depending on developments in the war in Gaza. Expanding the range of rockets fired deeper into northern ‘Israel’ is a very reasonable possibility. If the fighting continues in Gaza for a long period of time, the chances of a much greater escalation in the north will increase."

For his part, Channel 12's northern correspondent, Guy Varon, confirmed that amid "the unfolding events in the north, Hezbollah is taking the initiative and the ‘Israeli’ army is responding all the time, but the initiative is still with the other party.

“65,000 settlers do not live here anymore,” he said. 

“What will happen on the day when they say the war in the South is over? Will they return to their homes? Has the threat from the north been removed?” Varon asked. "Currently, it is clear to everyone that this threat has not been removed."

Commenting on Hezbollah’s use of drones, former Navy Commander Eliezer Marom said, “We cannot get into Hezbollah’s head and understand exactly what it wants. What we are seeing is a slow escalation, and it is not clear where things are headed. We have seen the launch of a Burkan missile with large amounts of explosive material but for a short range.”

According to Marom, "If drones enter the Galilee, then things will change. Hezbollah has the ability to reach very, very far if it wants to. At this stage, it does not want to."