Israel and Iran’s proxies in Lebanon settle into drumbeat of deadly reprisals

(Originally published Aug. 22 in “What in the World“) Hezbollah hit back against Israel’s airstrike.

The Iran-backed militia launched rockets into the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, injuring one person, after Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, killing one. These retaliatory skirmishes are still being cast in the media as worrisome portents of an escalating war, particularly as Iran has yet to carry out its promised retaliation for Israel’s assassination last month of Hamas’ political leader in Tehran. As a deterrent, the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group arrived in the Middle East Wednesday from Asia to relieve the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

But after 10 months of tit-for-tat strikes, it’s starting to look like an all-too-familiar status quo has broken out on Israel’s northern border.