Since IDF is taking out Hamas anywhere and everywhere, what happens next?

After the death of Saleh al-Arouri in a Jan. 2 drone strike, military strategist Bob Maginnis says he is watching with concern as Iran-backed Hezbollah promises to escalate its ongoing border conflict with its hated Jewish neighbor.  

Blinken's advice 'suicidal' for Israel's future Chad Groening, AFN.net An advocate for Israel and its sovereignty says she is frustrated by the Biden administration and its pressure on Israel to cease its war against Hamas. On a return trip to Israel this week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken once again pressured the Jewish state to end to its war in Gaza that it launched after Hamas terrorists massacred more than 1,200 Israelis in an Oct. 7 attack. Blinken cited promises from four Arab nations and Turkey to help rebuild Gaza after the war but those nations also want a cease-fire to stop the war and a promise of a future Palestinian state. Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries, tells AFN is it “sad” the government of Israel must listen to the U.S. tell it what to so. Markell “But America provides so much military hardware and all that. It equips her with her Iron Dome and things like that,” she points out. Markell predicts, however, that Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows it is “suicidal” to listen to Blinken and stop the war against Hamas.

In particular, Maginnis says he is concerned about the 120,000 missiles and rockets in southern Lebanon controlled by Hezbollah.

“And, of course, they've used a few [rockets] and there have been some interesting developments here,” says Maginnis, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel now with the Family Research Council.

After the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in northern Israel, Israel has ignored threats and pleas from both enemies and allies to stop its ongoing military campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Not only is the Israel Defense Forces hunting down and killing Hamas fighters in Gaza, now estimated at 9,000 KIA, the airstrike in Lebanon shows the IDF is hunting down its enemies regardless of where they are hiding in the region.  

Arouri, a deputy political leader in Hamas, is described as a “key figure” in the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, according to a BBC article about his death. Before his death, the Hamas leader was in Lebanon acting as a liaison between Hamas and Hezbollah.  

In a second similar attack, the IDF killed a top Hezbollah commander in an airstrike January 8. The commander, Wissam al-Tawil, was killed while traveling in an SUV in southern Lebanon. Al-Tawil oversaw Hezbollah attacks against Israel on the Lebanon-Israel border. 

Watching both Lebanon and Iran angrily react to those recent attacks, Maginnis says Iran must consider the consequences if it greenlights Hezbollah to launch long-ranged ballistic missiles into Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

“That would be, I think, an acceleration,” he says. “And you're making a geopolitical calculation if you're Iranian as to what your end state is. What do you want to do? You want to further destabilize the region further? Go after Israel.”