Why Netanyahu’s next showdown will be with Iran
The IndependentWednesday morning in south Beirut started as daybreak has for much of the last two months – with explosions and gunfire. The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon means that after 60 days the Israeli army will withdraw back to the border in the south and Hezbollah’s fighters will go beyond the Litani River 30km or so from the Israeli border. Benjamin Netanyahu justified stopping the war on Israel’s “northern front” as necessary for his forces to replenish their munitions from the USA and other Western suppliers, so it could redouble its efforts to suppress Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu notes Israel has increasingly crossed other countries’ “red lines” – and he meant, above all, the USA’s attempts to rein him in. Calming the war with Hezbollah, while Israel prepares for the real showdown with Iran, will make the 60-day ceasefire running out look less like Biden’s legacy, than his epitaph.