From pager attacks to buffer zones: Israel signals its regional strategy

Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Mariella Succar

The second anniversary of the pager explosions in Lebanon came amid renewed Israeli threats, with Israel saying its intelligence and military agencies are preparing similar operations as part of a broader effort to weaken Iran and its allies and reshape the Middle East.

The message comes as Israeli leaders, particularly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, use Jewish holidays to deliver speeches with an increasingly electoral tone.

Netanyahu claimed the war that began with the October 7 attack had prevented an existential threat to Israel and helped transform the Middle East. 

He described the killings of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as the beginning of a shift toward victory and vowed that Israeli forces would not withdraw from buffer zones in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.

Israel has also continued to reject arrangements that would keep the U.N. peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, in southern Lebanon, as well as proposals for an alternative force unless Israel approves its composition.

Israeli officials have also rejected Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s approach to disarming Hezbollah without triggering an internal confrontation, while seeking to use the issue to consolidate Israel’s presence and deepen divisions within Lebanon.

Meanwhile, former U.S. special envoy for Lebanon Morgan Ortagus told an Israeli television channel that efforts are underway to normalize relations between Lebanon and Israel and overcome obstacles to the diplomatic process.

Ortagus said the current situation requires both Israel and Hezbollah to withdraw from southern Lebanon.