Since Hamas’s unprecedented deadly attack on Israeli territory on October 7, there have been several gunfights and artillery fire between Hezbollah and the Israeli army on the Israeli-Lebanese border, AFP reports.

On Sunday, the Israeli military accused Lebanon’s powerful Shiite movement of seeking military escalation. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah would make “the mistake of its life” if it started a war against his country.

Iran, an ally of Hezbollah and Hamas, has warned that the conflict could escalate as Israel continues to bomb the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas attack that Israeli authorities say has killed more than 1,400 people.

Since October 7, violence along the Israel-Lebanese border has claimed 40 lives in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters, as well as four civilians, including a Reuters photographer. The Israeli side killed four people.

Why does Hezbollah support Hamas?

The day after the Hamas attack on Israel, Hezbollah shelled Israeli positions in southern Lebanon. Israel fired back. For now, Hezbollah has limited its attacks.

Analysts said long before the Oct. 7 attack, Hamas and Hezbollah had set up a “joint operations” center with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the al-Quds Force, an elite unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, a source close to them told AFP Hezbollah. on the condition of anonymity.

These groups, which make up the “Axis of Resistance,” the unofficial name given to Israel’s enemies, have coordinated their activities with other Palestinian and Syrian factions and other Iranian-backed groups for years.

According to analyst Michael Young of the Carnegie Middle East Center, Shiite Hezbollah’s support for Sunni Hamas is explained by the fact that they share a common enemy: Israel.

The Axis of Resistance has always tried to “emphasize that it is not an exclusively Shiite entity,” Yang told AFP.

“Hamas is at the center of the Palestinian issue, which is an integral part of the revolutionary identity of Hezbollah and Iran,” the analyst said sharply.

What are Hezbollah’s military capabilities?

Hezbollah is the most important political and military force in Lebanon. The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a Tel Aviv think tank, estimates its arsenal at 150,000-200,000 missiles of all types, including “hundreds of precision missiles.” In 2021, the group claimed 100,000 fighters. INSS says that in reality it is only about 50 thousand fighters.

Iran finances the Shia movement by supplying it with weapons and equipment, mainly through Syria.

According to a UN resolution, after the 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah no longer has a visible military presence on the Lebanese-Israeli border. However, experts report that the movement dug tunnels and trenches in the region through which its members move.

For years, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, has repeated that his movement’s precision weapons are capable of reaching even Ashdod, an Israeli coastal city north of Gaza.

In mid-August, he said his group only needed “a few high-precision missiles” to destroy a list of targets in Israel, which he listed as “civilian and military airports, air bases, power plants, communications centers and the Dimona (nuclear) plant.”

Does Hezbollah want to go to war?

Hassan Nasrallah has not communicated since October 7. But the possible escalation on the Lebanese border due to the possible ground intervention of Israel in Gaza causes concern of the international community, which fears the renewal of the conflict.

Imad Salameh of the Lebanese American University (LAU) believes that Hezbollah may increase its attacks but does not want to divert attention from the conflict between Hamas and Israel.

According to Michael Young, the Lebanese movement wants to “prevent sufficient Israeli troops in Gaza.” It may also have set itself the goal of “inflaming fears of a regional conflagration that would lead to pressure within the UN and perhaps even the United States to call for a ceasefire.”

As for the possibility of Iran pushing Hezbollah to a direct confrontation with Israel, Salameh and Young expressed confidence that “Iran will not sacrifice Hezbollah.”