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Relief that an eruption of violence across the border between Israel and Lebanon has been contained is tempered by a lack of progress in ending the fighting in Gaza.
Aug. 26, 2024Updated 3:34 p.m. ET
After weeks of foreboding, an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah has been averted, at least for now, as both sides returned on Monday to more contained confrontations along the Israel-Lebanon border.
But any relief has been tempered by renewed anxiety and uncertainty: Despite the apparent postponement of a bigger regional war, Israel’s grinding conflicts with both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza still have no end in sight.
The trajectories of both wars depend largely on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Yahya Sinwar of Hamas, who both fear for their own political survival should they agree to a cease-fire in Gaza on terms that they or their supporters deem unfavorable.
In negotiations for a truce in Gaza, Mr. Netanyahu is pushing for a temporary break in hostilities that will theoretically allow Israel to continue to fight Hamas after a few weeks, thus placating his supporters who oppose ending the war before Hamas is completely destroyed. By contrast, Mr. Sinwar wants a permanent cease-fire that, even if it collapses in a few months, will give Hamas a greater chance of rebuilding its arsenal and retaining power in Gaza.
Without a deal in Gaza, Hezbollah has vowed to continue its strikes along the Israel-Lebanon border, where any sudden miscalculation or mistake still risks transforming a relatively restricted fight into a bigger conflict involving Iran, the benefactor of both Hamas and Hezbollah.
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