February 8, 2012

A Western Front with Hezbollah?

April 14, 2009

by Daniel E. Levenson

 

JERUSALEM - For many years now the border with Egypt has been a point of concern for Israel’s security establishment with attacks on tourists in places like Sharm-el-Shekh and the smuggling of weapons and terrorists through the Sinai and Gaza,  the relative lack of adequate security along this border has been apparent. Egypt has also had its share of trouble by virtue of an insecure border with Gaza, with Hamas encouraging the digging of tunnels and smuggling between Gaza and Egypt, an endeavor that has taken lives and has had a destabilizing effect on the border. Egypt is undoubtedly in an uncomfortable place when it comes to dealing with this latest incident, in which Hezbollah apparently dispatched operatives to Egypt in order to attack Israeli tourists as well as Egyptian infrastructure. As Haaretz reported recently on their website, Hezbollah terrorists were in Egypt preparing to carry out attacks in revenge for the killing of terrorist mastermind Imad Mughniyeh, and according to an Egyptian newspaper had “ … surveilled tourist sites in Taba, Dahab and Sharm el-Sheikh and tracked Israeli ships passing through the Suez Canal.”

The Egyptian government  probably does not want to do anything that will enflame Islamist sentiments at home by appearing to be too friendly with Israel (despite the treaty between the two nations) and too critical of Hezbollah, running the risk of a backlash from domestic terrorist organizations within their own borders. At the same time, the Egyptians cannot afford to allow Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist organization, to operate within Egypt, raising tensions along the border with Israel, or, for that matter, doing anything at all that has the potential to destabilize Egypt.

The question remains as to how far these non-state groups and actors can push sovereign nations before decisive and overwhelming military force is employed by the aggrieved state, and is further complicated by the question of into which category one places an organization such as Hezbollah. While it is certainly a terrorist organization, Hezbollah also happens to have significant political influence in Lebanon, as well as its own media outlet and the ability to provide a wide range of social services in the places which they have effectively annexed from central Lebanese government control. 

If one sees Hezbollah as a terrorist group that has infiltrated Egypt in order to attack Israel, then it is a criminal act of a political nature, which represents a serious security threat to both Egypt and Israel. If one sees Hezbollah as an extension of the Lebanese government, then such an action could be viewed as a very dangerous move to open a new front between Lebanon and Israel on the border between Israel and Egypt. Either way, the implications are deeply troubling and signal the changing nature of a threat that not only Israel, but Egypt as well, must act swiftly to stop before it grows into something much more deadly and disruptive.  If Hezbollah is allowed to operate within Egypt and to take advantage of the relative chaos of Gaza to launch attacks on Israel, then the world will find itself at the confluence of three different, but inextricably intertwined, at least in rhetoric, if not in substance, conflicts, each with its own peculiarly difficult and dangerous set of political and military challenges.

 

With the United States currently engaged in two major wars and apparently about to embark on a campaign against piracy off the coast of Africa, it seems unlikely that America will get involved in this latest episode of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Arab terrorism, which makes it all the more important that Israel and Egypt stand together to send a united message to Hezbollah and what shreds remain of an actual Lebanese government, that Israel and Egypt are at peace with one another. It may not be a warm peace, it may not be a peace in which relations are easy, but it is a peace nonetheless, and may ultimately be the cornerstone for peace between Israel and the rest of the region. Israel and Egypt must send a strong and clear signal to Lebanon that actions such as the infiltration of these terrorists, into Egypt and Gaza, with the intent of taking innocent lives and destabilizing border regions, are completely unacceptable, and they must do so right away.