Lebanon yesterday celebrated Palm Sunday in the Christian communities that follow the Western calendar in most of its regions in a largely normal manner, even in southern border towns that defied the dangers facing citizens, where processions of palm branches, children's decorations, and their candles did not cease. However, this did not overshadow the growing concern about signs of field escalation, particularly after it crossed traditional battlefield lines and rules of engagement. This was reflected in the renewed incursion of Israeli airstrikes into the depths of northern Beqaa, specifically in Baalbek, and notably targeting the western Beqaa for the first time.
While battlefield realities often drive the expansion of Israeli aerial strikes and responses from Hezbollah with operations far removed from the goals on the border confrontation line, this does not diminish the seriousness of Lebanon facing a highly ambiguous phase fraught with the possibility of broad escalation. At the very least, this could widen the scope of battlefield depletion and subsequent destruction affecting more than forty southern border towns and villages to other southern areas, as feared by relevant official and political entities monitoring the ongoing developments in the field.
These entities do not hide their belief that while the possibility of an explosion of a comprehensive war between Israel and Hezbollah remains circumstantially excluded for various reasons, it does not eliminate the fear of Israel's direction towards expanding the scope of targeting and depletion. Recently, Baalbek has become similar to most southern border towns, as military observers are tracking a systematic expansion of the destruction stripe unveiled by the current Israeli plan as an alternative to a comprehensive war.
