Washington Post: Netanyahu reached an agreement with Hezbollah, so why not with Hamas?

The Washington Post said that the Lebanese Hezbollah, despite its greatly diminished military power, is far from having been defeated by the Israeli army, let alone destroyed.

The American newspaper reported that Hezbollah fired about 250 rockets and other missiles last Sunday - just two days before the ceasefire was announced - at targets in central and northern Israel, in one of the most violent barrages of rockets it has fired in months.

The Israeli government has not published any estimates of Hezbollah's casualties, unlike what happened with the Palestinian resistance movement (Hamas), which the newspaper considered evidence that the numbers are not impressive enough to announce.

Hezbollah is still strong

However, the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies claimed that Hezbollah has lost a total of 2,450 fighters out of an estimated 40 to 50 thousand.

According to the Washington Post report, Hezbollah still has tens of thousands of missiles and fighters with which it can rebuild its military capabilities and return to southern Lebanon, which borders Israel, regardless of what is stipulated in the ceasefire agreement, which went into effect last Wednesday, after the two sides agreed to an agreement brokered by the United States and France.

That decision called for Hezbollah fighters to withdraw to the north of the Litani River (about 32 kilometers from the Israeli border) and for the Lebanese army to deploy its forces to secure southern Lebanon.

Although the United Nations peacekeeping forces were supposed to monitor the parties’ compliance with the terms of the agreement, the Washington Post says that the peacekeepers have no authority to do anything but stand by as Hezbollah works to fortify itself.

Netanyahu’s concerns

The newspaper recalled the ceasefire agreement that was concluded after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006, and reported that it did not prevent Hezbollah from strengthening its forces on Israel’s northern border, and the new agreement reached this week will not prevent it from doing so.

The report added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was keen this time to keep the ground attack within a few kilometers of the Israeli border to avoid getting bogged down in a costly quagmire.

Although Netanyahu will not admit it publicly, his calculations in private seem to indicate that Israel can live with Hezbollah fighters on its border as long as it deters them from actually attacking it, according to the report.

The American newspaper wondered why Netanyahu was not willing to strike a similar deal with Hamas. It pointed out that the Israeli Prime Minister pledged, in the speech in which he announced the ceasefire in Lebanon, that he would complete the mission of eliminating Hamas, a mission that Israeli military leaders say they cannot achieve.

Hamas

The newspaper expressed its belief that Netanyahu does not show much interest in a ceasefire with the Palestinian movement, which would result in the release of prisoners.

The Washington Post quoted veteran US diplomat Aaron David Miller as saying in an email that the deal with Lebanon was easier for Netanyahu, "but in Gaza, he knows that Hamas will not release the (Israeli) prisoners without major concessions, such as the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners accused of killing Israelis and ending the war."

He explained that an agreement in this regard in Gaza could lead to the collapse of the ruling right-wing coalition in Israel, while Netanyahu intends to keep the army in Gaza for the coming months.

The newspaper confirmed in its report that US President-elect Donald Trump may be able to pressure Netanyahu to bring peace to the Gaza Strip, which is something that current President Joe Biden has not been able to do.

Source: Washington Post+Al Jazeera