Earlier this week, there was a large explosion in southern Lebanon about 10 km from the Israeli border. UNIFIL officials said that the blast was likely from a Hizballah weapons deposit and could constitute a breach of UNSC resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 War between Hizballah and Israel.
This week marks the three year anniversary of the start of the war.
Hizballah agents were allegedly on scene before UNIFIL and LAF forces showed up. Israel claims that the explosion is evidence that Hizballah is rearming itself with help from Iran and Syria. Hizballah claims that the explosion was from one of the thousands of unexploded cluster bombs that Israel dropped on Lebanon as the war winded down.
The news of the explosion this week comes as Israel is announcing successful preliminary test of its “Iron Dome” ballistic missile shield. The shield is designed to shoot down missiles and rockets in the air.
During the 2006 War, Hizballah launched thousands of rockets into Israeli territory, exposing a key vulnerability in Israel’s defenses. The Iron Dome shield will initially be placed just outside Gaza to halt rocket attacks originating from the Palestinian territory.
If the shield is sufficiently effective, Hizballah will have to reevaluate its tactics for the future. This could possibly change the nature of the conflict with Israel to the point of escalation. In this event, Hizballah will have to become more and more sophisticated in its weaponry, which in turn will cause the group to become more dependent on Iran and Syria for its weapons.
At the moment, there is a fragile stability between the Middle eastern states, and the last thing that this region needs is an arms race between Hizballah and Israel. However, between Israel’s ballistic missile shield and the explosion of an alleged Hizballah weapons depot, it is clear that these two sides at least are preparing for war.
