Israel’s ultimatum to Hezbollah: Back off or go to war

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. TEL AVIV : With escalating attacks on Hezbollah’s rank and file, commanders and infrastructure, Israel is pressing its military and intelligence advantage to give the Lebanese group an implied ultimatum: make a deal to pull back from Israel’s northern border, or go to war. Israel is rotating its attention to its border with Lebanon as the Gaza Strip battlefield becomes static, launching an aggressive series of attacks that have devastated Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

This past week’s pager and walkie-talkie attacks revealed that Israel has deeply compromised Hezbollah’s communication systems, while an airstrike on Beirut that killed much of the leadership of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force showed how Israel’s intelligence capabilities continue to expose the group’s top operatives. The U.S. has been pushing for a diplomatic solution that would have Hezbollah agree to voluntarily move its force several miles off the Israeli border and back toward a line agreed to after their 2006 war.

That agreement is enforced by United Nations peacekeepers, who have been unable to keep Hezbollah out. Israeli officials said those talks are hitting a dead end, and time is running out to find a solution other than war to stop Hezbollah’s cross-border attacks. The drumbeat of stepped-up strikes are part of what Israeli officials say is a new approach to its nearly yearlong conflict with Hezbollah, fought initially in the background of Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza but increasingly taking center stage.