Their eyes reddened with tears, men silently mourned amidst the hubbub caused by the crowd chanting slogans in praise of Hezbollah at the Sayyid Al-Chouhada complex in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday, August 1. These hundreds of supporters of the Lebanese Shiite party, men and women dressed in black, held up the portrait of Fouad Shukur, the military leader killed in a strike claimed by Israel on July 30. Fighters in ceremonial uniforms and red berets carried his coffin, covered in the yellow flag of the Party of God, to the rhythm of the military parade. After the prayer, Hassan Nasrallah's face appeared on the auditorium screens, against a red background. "We are facing a major battle. We've moved beyond just a support front. This is an open battle on all fronts," warned Hezbollah's leader in a live televised speech, announcing a "new stage" in the confrontation with Israel.
Tuesday evening's strike on a building in the southern suburbs of Beirut – which killed three women and two children, as well as Nasrallah's right-hand man and an Iranian military adviser – was followed by the unclaimed attack in Tehran the next night on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard. Nasrallah said this calls for an "inevitable," "real and not just symbolic" response.
"You may have rejoiced in the massacres, but you'll soon be crying. You don't know what red lines you've crossed," said the "sayyid" (honorary title given to the descendants of the prophet of Islam) Hassan, addressing Israel. He denounced, in turn, an "act of aggression" against Beirut and an "attack on the sovereignty, national security and honor of the Iranians, because their guest was killed in their own country." He accused Israel, "judge, jury and executioner," of using the death of 12 children on Saturday in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, on the Golan Heights annexed by Israel, as a pretext for its "aggression." He called for an independent investigation, denying responsibility for the fatal shooting, which was blamed on Hezbollah.
His statements and those of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, foreshadow stronger retalation than what Iran and its allies within the "axis of resistance" inflicted on Israel after the strikes on the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1. Twelve days later, Iran launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on Israeli territory, coordinated with attacks by its affiliates. Tehran had nevertheless taken care to warn the United States in advance. Since this action had no deterrent effect on Israel, Iran and its allies are determined to strike a scathing blow in response to the affront they have just suffered. But they do not wish to start an all-out war.
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