For a brief moment earlier this month, the possibility of a regional confrontation engaging Israel on two fronts appeared to increase, when Israel launched Operation Northern Shield, an open-ended action to destroy Hezbollah tunnels from Lebanon into northern Israel. “[We are] operating decisively and responsibly on all fronts simultaneously … [against] any party that “tries to harm the State of Israel,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hours after announcing the operation on Dec. 4. The Israeli army moved artillery to the north and called up reserves, heightening the atmosphere of uncertainty.
In response to the Israeli's action,
Hassan Hobballah, a member of Hezbollah’s political bureau in charge of the Palestinian dossier, said, “Hezbollah is monitoring the Israeli movements on all fronts. We are an integrated chain, and we cannot separate Gaza from Lebanon. Our enemy is one regardless of the number of fronts involved. We will not let one front face Israel alone.” Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad spokesman
Musab al-Barim remarked, “The Palestinian resistance is taking the situation on the Lebanese border very seriously. It is carefully considering the strategic position and will not give up its role in the field.”
A week after the start of the operation, the Israeli army said on Dec. 10 that it still had not ruled out the possibility that the operation to destroy Hezbollah’s tunnels might require entering Lebanese territory. The following day, Netanyahu visited the border with Lebanon. “There is great firepower here,” he said, in reference to Hezbollah. “We are prepared for it from all directions.” Some analysts took “all directions” to suggest the possibility of a military escalation in Gaza or Syria in support of Hezbollah should conflict erupt between the Lebanese group and Israel.
Theoretically, with Iran being the main supporter of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, Tehran could decide to launch simultaneous battles on Israel's Gaza and Lebanon fronts, which would pose a challenge to the Palestinian organizations, requiring them to either acquiesce to or reject the Iranian request. The statements out of Gaza and Beirut after the launch of Israel's tunnel operation raised questions about whether Hamas and other Palestinian factions would indeed engage.
Yousef Sharkawi, a military expert from the West Bank and a retired military commander for the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Al-Monitor, “The participation of the Palestinian resistance, namely Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, alongside Hezbollah is necessary to achieve a front unification policy against Israel. Hezbollah should have supported Gaza in the wars between 2008 and 2014, but it missed this opportunity.”
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