Israel's Sights On Lebanon After Lessons Learned From Gaza Campaign, Says IDF Chief

Israel Defence Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday afternoon that war in Lebanon was becoming an increasing likelihood as the country looked to return displaced Israelis into northern areas close to the Lebanese border.

As the Times of Israel reported, Halevi told his northern Israel troops: “I don't know when the war in the north [will happen]. I can tell you that the likelihood of it happening in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past.”

He reportedly added that Israel's military is “increasing readiness for fighting in Lebanon, we have a lot of lessons from the fighting in Gaza, many of them are very relevant to fighting in Lebanon.”

Israel has already been conducting missile strikes on suspected Hamas targets within Lebanon.

Humanitarian Aid Arrives At Egypt/Gaza Border

In Egypt, a shipment of medicine for Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians was bound for Gaza after a humanitarian deal brokered by Qatar and France.

While the deal is the first time since November’s temporary ceasefire that the two combatants have come to an agreement, there is not expected to be any release of hostages, nor has either side commented on whether fighting will stop.

The deal would involve the delivery of medicines and humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza on the proviso that some of that aid gets to Israeli captives in Gaza.

A Hamas spokesperson said that for every box of aid supplied to the hostages, 1,000 boxes would be earmarked for the people of Gaza.

The supplies flown to Egypt from Qatar were reportedly being held at the Rafah border crossing to Gaza.

In the occupied West Bank region, Israel said that an air strike had killed Bilal Nofal, who it claimed was a Hamas counter-espionage leader.

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Iran Missile Strike On Pakistan

Meanwhile, Iran’s saber-rattling continued with a missile strike inside neighboring Pakistan, which Tehran later claimed was targeting an “Iranian terrorist group.”

Iran’s foreign minister, speaking on the sidelines at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said the strike was in response to the Jaish al-Adl group’s recent attacks on Iran and added his country would not allow its national security to be compromised.

Pakistan said two children were killed and three injured in the attack, which it called “an illegal and unprovoked violation of its airspace.”

Market Reactions

Markets remained in a downbeat mood as the troubles in the Middle East continued. European stock markets closed lower, with London’s FTSE 100 down 1.5%. Earlier in Asia, China indices closed sharply lower, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 3.7%.

By midday in the U.S., the S&P 500 was down 0.9%, while the SPDR S&P 500 EFT SPY, which tracks the index, was 0.7% lower.

Oil prices also moved lower — still managing to find little in the way of a geopolitical premium from the problems in the Middle East and Red Sea.

Despite Yemeni Houthi rebels saying on Wednesday that they would continue to target ships in the Red Sea heading for Israel, both Brent crude and Nymex WTI were around 1% lower in midday trade in New York. The United States Oil Fund ETF USO was also down by 1%.

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