Israel faces the danger of fighting on a second front

AS ISRAEL ORDERS an evacuation of Gaza and prepares to invade it there are ominous signals on its northern border with Lebanon, where the opening of a second front would dramatically complicate Israel’s military position and escalate the conflict. Speaking from Lebanon on October 13th Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, said there was “every possibility” of a second front if Israel’s blockade of Gaza were to continue. The fighters of Hizbullah, the Iran-backed Shia militia based in Lebanon, are gung-ho. “Imagine what we could do,” says a commander just back from Lebanon’s border with Israel. There are “game changing” plans to cross the border, he says, and capture the Galilee and northern Israel. Israeli strikes on Hizbullah would be returned by Hizbullah rockets, destroying Tel Aviv “tower for tower”. Israel’s nuclear reactor is a far easier target, he says, than Iran’s nuclear installations are for the West.