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since the outbreak of a new round of israeli-palestinian conflict on october 7, 2023, not only has israel's attacks on hamas become increasingly diverse and cruel, but the forms and nature of conflicts between israel and iran, lebanon's hezbollah, and the houthi armed forces have also been constantly renewed, making the situation more complex.the middle east, which has long been plagued by traditional and non-traditional security threats such as war, conflict, and terrorism, has fallen into a more complex security dilemma, which has continuously impacted the moral and psychological defenses of the international community, while also posing many new challenges and new issues to international law and the law of war.

on september 17, local time, a pager carried by a member of the lebanese hezbollah exploded, killing 12 people and injuring about 2,800 people. on the afternoon of the 18th, another walkie-talkie explosion occurred in many places in lebanon. cctv news quoted the latest news from the lebanese ministry of public health that the explosion of communication equipment such as walkie-talkies has caused 20 deaths and more than 450 injuries. although the outbreak of this incident reflects the serious loopholes in the security precautions of the lebanese hezbollah, israel's unscrupulous approach still shocked the international community.

on september 18, 2024, local time, in baalbek, lebanon, the explosion site of wireless communication equipment. visual china photo

the explosion of communication equipment caused casualties among hezbollah members in lebanon, which undoubtedly reflects thethe new round of spillover of the palestinian-israeli conflict has brought new forms, new characteristics and new challenges, which have further blurred the boundaries between war and civilian life.in particular, its violent deterrent effect is more direct and does have a certain degree of"state terrorism"the colors, tooit highlights the extreme measures taken by israel's military, intelligence and security agencies in cracking down on dissidents.

the explosion of hezbollah's communications equipment in lebanon reflectsisraelthe deep contradictions between the two sides will inevitably lead to further escalation of the contradictions and conflicts between the two sides, and will also have a great impact on the security of the middle east, the supply chain security andinternational law, and international political ethics.

the resurgence and spread of violent politics

first,political violence in the middle east continues to resurge and its forms are constantly changing. the conflict between israel and anti-israel resistance forces is very likely to continue.normalization, life-oriented, socialized, universalizedthe flooding trend.

historically, violent politics has always been one of the worst traditions of middle eastern politics, with assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and other terrorist and violent means emerging one after another.israeli-palestinian conflictthroughout history, israel's various paramilitary organizations and security agencies, as well as radical ethnic and religious organizations in the arab world and palestine, have had an ignominious history of abusing violence, including the bloody violence between israel and lebanon's hezbollah since the 1980s. however, with the deepening of the trend of world peace and development, the launch of the middle east peace process, and especially the strengthening of global anti-terrorism since the "9.11" incident, political violence in the middle east has been suppressed to a certain extent.

butsince the outbreak of a new round of palestinian-israeli conflict, the relatively weakened political violence in the middle east has been activated again and is showing signs of continuing to spread and expand.hamas's violent attacks on israel, israel's extreme military retaliation and bloody killings, kidnappings, assassinations, bombings and other terrorist and violent actions are all manifestations of the rampant political violence in the middle east. what is even more worrying is that althoughthe conflict in the middle east is a high-tech contest at the material level, but at the ideological level it is increasingly returning to ancient barbaric forms of conflict such as blood feud and tribalism.

the explosion of hezbollah's communications equipment is undoubtedly a more special form of political violence.in particular, its failure to distinguish between war and civilian life and the resulting serious casualties among innocent civilians, as well as the severe social panic it has caused, have not only greatly worsened lebanon's social security environment, but will also further intensify hezbollah's hatred and revenge against israel, leading to an escalation of the conflict cycle between the two sides.

israel's paranoia

secondly,the explosion of hezbollah's communications equipment shows that israel has taken a long road in combating anti-israel forces.political bigotry that goes to extremes and has no scruples.this will lead to more complicated conflicts between israel and hezbollah as well as anti-israel forces such as iran, hamas, and the houthis, especially the escalation and prolongation of the conflict between israel and hezbollah.

since the outbreak of the new round of palestinian-israeli conflict, the israeli prime minister netanyahu has faced challenges from hamas, iran, hezbollah, and the houthi armed forces.the core strategy of the wartime cabinet is to deal the greatest possible blow to the "resistance camp" led by iran.and it responded uncompromisingly to the huge pressure from home and abroad. in the process, the thunderous blow to hamas, the bombing of the iranian consulate in syria, the attack on iran's homeland, the assassination of hamas leader haniyeh in the iranian capital, the strong attack on iran, the bombing of houthi armed targets over yemen, and the strong retaliation against hezbollah's harassment of the border are all concentrated manifestations of israel's strategic will.

the massive casualties caused by the explosion of hezbollah's communications equipment in lebanon remain a concentrated manifestation of israel's strategic will to strike back at anti-israel forces.after hamas was severely damaged, israel had been planning to strike hezbollah, which constantly threatened the security of its northern border. this was a long-term strategic consideration since the two invasions of lebanon in 1982 and 2006.striking, severely damaging or even eliminating hezbollah is not only related to israel’s border security, but also to cutting off iran’s most powerful left and right arms that threaten israel’s security.the times of israel reported that as the fighting in gaza slowed down, the israeli military has strengthened its deployment of troops on the lebanese border, including the powerful 98th army division. the report said that the 98th division has thousands of soldiers, including paratrooper infantry units, artillery and elite commandos specially trained to carry out missions behind enemy lines. the 98th division has participated in the most intense fighting in gaza and has carried out operations in the southern city of khan yunis (a hamas stronghold), and the offensive has caused heavy losses to hamas fighters.

looking ahead, israel will continue to maintain conflicts in gaza and lebanon before the us election.they hope to extend the conflict until after the us election, and hope that trump's election will make us-israel relations more favorable to israel.therefore, israel will undoubtedly continue to carry out strikes against the "resistance camp", and hezbollah, which is relatively powerful and poses the most direct threat to israel's security, is undoubtedly an important target of its strikes. before the us election, israel's strategy may be to choose the degree of conflict and confrontation with hezbollah, hamas and iran according to its needs, so as to maintain a certain intensity of conflict and thus pry the united states, but not to cause a serious split in us-israel relations.

a profound crisis that continues to spread and spread

in addition, israel's malicious attack on hezbollah by manipulating hezbollah's communication equipment not only has a huge negative impact on the politics and security of the middle east, but alsoit has posed a series of challenges to the international community in terms of international law and the law of war, supply chain security, and international political ethics.

al jazeera reported that since 2010, israel hasaimilitary analyst elijah magnier told al jazeera: "normally, in every war, the first attack is against the command and control base, but this time the israelis attacked the control center, which is the communications center. destroying communications is crucial in any war because it is the backbone of the (enemy) army." in fact, in this communication equipment explosion,israel did not simply attack military command and communication centers, but extended the battlefield conflict to the social living places of ordinary people through the communication equipment carried by countless hezbollah members and even ordinary people.

from the perspective of international law and the law of war, the use of communication equipment to create an explosion undoubtedly constitutes one of the issues that require the characterization of international law.this is another difficult problem that has emerged in international conflicts after drones and artificial intelligence.although it is undoubtedly an illegal act that should be prohibited and combated in the sense of general international law, it is difficult to hold it accountable in reality because it is highly difficult to obtain evidence. in today's situation where global governance and international order are in crisis, it has undoubtedly become a difficult problem for global governance.

according to media reports, israel launched a strike against hezbollah by intervening and controlling its supply chain. this is a more worrying precedent.it has led to a more blurred boundary between military and economic and civilian fields, conflict and peace, and has become a new gray area in the military and security fields in the era of technological change.it is foreseeable that israel will likely continue to interfere with and disrupt the supply chains of anti-israel forces such as iran, hamas, hezbollah, and the houthis. although israel will be highly cautious in terms of scope and scale and will not pose a systemic threat to the supply chain in the middle east,this despicable practice undoubtedly makes supply chain security more vulnerable. if it is used by terrorist and extremist organizations, the harm will be even more unimaginable.

from the perspective of international political ethics, the new round of palestinian-israeli conflict has posed a strong impact on the bottom line of international political ethics and international morality.the serious crisis of international order, global governance and international morality has been concretely reflected in the israeli-palestinian conflict. israel is not only attacking hezbollah itself by interfering with and destroying its communications facilities, but even worse is that it is moving the battlefield to lebanon's domestic economy, social fields and people's lives without restrictions, thus causing serious social panic. this isit is a manifestation of the serious degeneration of political ethics and war ethics.

in short, with the prolonged nature of the palestinian-israeli conflict and the diversification of its spillover forms, the palestinian-israeli conflict has far exceeded the scope of a simple ethnic conflict.in particular, israel's willful pursuit of right-wing extreme nationalist policies and political bigotry have led to a series of profound crises that are spreading and expanding in the political, security, economic, legal and moral fields.

"middle east wise comments" is a column by professor liu zhongmin of the institute of middle east studies at shanghai international studies university. it adheres to the combination of realism, theory and basic principles, and responds to real-life issues with the depth of history and theory.