Expert says Israel can still target Hezbollah 'no matter how weak'
Iran has few viable options for striking back at Israel, largely because its key regional proxy Hezbollah has been "decapitated," according to Fabian Hinz of the International Institute of Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank focusing on defense and security issues.
The Houthi rebels in Yemen, another of Iran’s allies, depend on long-range Iranian missiles but supplies are limited, Hinz said.
If Iran chose to strike using short-range missiles, he speculates it could transfer them to Shiite militants in Iraq, which are nearer to Israel.
A U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal brought an end to the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November. The Lebanese militant group — which lost much of its senior leadership and arsenal in the conflict — has remained largely quiet since then and has given no indication that it intends to join the fray between Israel and Iran.
Israeli forces have continued to occupy several border points in southern Lebanon and to carry out regular airstrikes on what Israel says are Hezbollah facilities since the ceasefire.
Caroline Rose, a director at the Washington-based New Lines Institute think tank said that while it seems "clear that Iran-backed proxies across the region — particularly Hezbollah—just do not have the capacity" to enter the fray, Israel could decide to expand the scope of its offensive beyond Iran.
One of the goals announced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to eliminate Iran's "axis of terrorism" — the coalition of Tehran-backed armed groups across the region known as the "Axis of Resistance."
That goal "is ambiguous and offers Israel the operational space to expand this war to countries it deems are hosting Iran-backed proxies, no matter how weak they may be," Rose said.
Source: Associated Press
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