A senior Israeli official admitted to “i24” on Monday that if “Israel” had known that “the war would end in this way, in terms of the political aspect, it would certainly not have been worth waging.”
For its part, the Israeli “Yedioth Ahronoth” website revealed that “the recent attack on the southern suburb of Beirut was carried out on orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yisrael Katz,” despite warnings from leaders in the Israeli “army” about the possibility of an Iranian response with ballistic missiles against “Israel.”
According to what informed sources reported, a number of senior officials suggested postponing the attack for a day or two, hoping that during that time a US-Iranian agreement would crystallize that might make carrying out the attack impossible, or “that Katz and Netanyahu would calm down.”
The sources indicated that the objections of senior Israeli “army” officials were not related to the goal or immediate operational concerns, but rather to their timing, as the region was awaiting the signing of a comprehensive US-Iranian agreement.
“Netanyahu was unable to thwart the agreement.”
She also pointed out that some estimates within the “Army” warned that the attack would be “an attempt to plant a political-military mine in the course of the agreement,” and would lead to a missile response, which could open the door to greater escalation.
The newspaper reported that Netanyahu has lost his ability to influence American policy, and is unable to thwart an agreement that the Israeli leadership considers “dangerous.”
Relatedly, a source familiar with the discussions said that Netanyahu was “afraid of criticism,” and that he ordered the propaganda speech to be based on allegations of separation between Iran and Lebanon, and to focus on “operations in Lebanon,” while another source said that the goal of the operation was to “launch an attack on the agreement,” that is, an attempt to create additional tension.
“Inflict more humiliation on Netanyahu.”
According to a security source, the results of the operation were the opposite of what Netanyahu had aspired to, as the source said that the latter believed that he could push the course of negotiations with Iran towards escalation and disruption by carrying out the attack on the southern suburb, but what happened on the ground was completely different.
He added that the agreement enjoys great support from US President Donald Trump, who is aware of the risks associated with escalation, and wants to sign it immediately, which may lead to calming the situation with Iran, while the source indicated that Netanyahu appeared to be in a critical position, as he has been trying for 3 weeks to reformulate the rules of the game with Hezbollah, and show that he “is not subject to Trump.”
However, “it all ended with Trump imposing Trump’s will and inflicting more humiliation on Netanyahu,” according to the newspaper.
