Israel carried out aerial attacks on Hezbollah observation posts last Wednesday in response to shots being fired across the border.
Meanwhile, Israel has also been bombing Gaza since early August in response to fire-starting balloons launched into Israeli territory. However, Hamas and Israel have reached a cease-fire agreement on that front.
Tom Doyle of Uncharted Ministries explains the situation. “Israel hasn’t had a problem with the government of Lebanon; they have had a problem with the southern area in Lebanon that overlooks Israel.”
Doyle says Hezbollah holds this territory now. “They are there to agitate, keep Israel back on their feet, continually threatening them with war. But just recently, Israel has had to respond. And that’s been rare because Hezbollah has been in hiding and kept at bay. Now, all of a sudden, it’s getting worse.”
This Violence Has Ties to Iran
All this, Doyle says, is financed by Iran, as is much of the terrorism in the Middle East. He points to the UAE-Israel deal, saying, “What’s happened in the Gulf is they have realized Iran is the enemy and not Israel. The whole game is changing in the Middle East. Israel used to be standing against Iran alone. Now there are more joining the cause. And surprisingly, it’s some of the Arab Muslim nations.”
Lebanon, of course, is already suffering after the massive Beirut explosion early in August. They don’t need war right now, but Doyle says that’s not stopping Hezbollah. “They say they’re the great defenders of the people, but they’re not. They’re not there to do anything constructive.” In fact, Israel wanted to come into Lebanon to help after the explosion but was denied.
In the middle of all this hardship, Christians who live in the land are still being faithful witnesses for Christ. Doyle says, “Please pray for the dear people of Lebanon. Pray for those that have yet to come to faith in Christ. Pray for Muslims, and pray for Hezbollah. My wife actually did a seminar for women in southern Lebanon, and many Hezbollah wives actually attended and were quite open to the gospel.” {eoa}
This article originally appeared at Mission Network News.
