'For evacuees it's a total war' The reactions from inside an anxious Israel

Nearly 24 hours after the simultaneous detonation of hundreds of pagers imported by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, followed by more explosions yesterday targeting walkie-talkies across Lebanon, in an attack attributed to Israel, Israeli political commentators and analysts were asking questions about the timing and what the consequences might be for the conflict on the Lebanese border.

- Lorenzo Tondo, Quique Kierszenbaum

The blasts occurred shortly after the Israeli security cabinet had approved a decision to expand the goals of the war in Gaza to include the return of tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from towns in the north that have been damaged by rockets fired by Hezbollah. That potentially hands the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a casus belli if he decides to launch a ground invasion into Lebanon.

Writing for the news website Ynet yesterday, the Israeli journalist and political commentator Avi Issacharoff asked: "What is the purpose of such a war against Hezbollah? What are the achievable goals? Will it be possible to restore peace to the northern border and keep the activists of the Shia organisation away from the border?" Israel has a long history of conducting advanced remote operations in countries deemed enemies, ranging from cyberattacks to remote-controlled firearms aimed at individuals in drive-by shootings. It rarely comments on or accepts responsibility for such operations.

Tuesday's blasts caught most political observers offguard.

Since October, Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas in Gaza, has traded almost daily fire with Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israel border.