Cold military logic – strike and counter-strike – appears to have taken over. This is not a battle of equals. Israel knows it can beat Hezbollah. There’s a complete asymmetry in the level of destruction and suffering that each side can inflict on the other.

The Israeli military said on Monday it was conducting extensive strikes against targets of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, which come amid some of the heaviest cross-border exchanges of fire in nearly a year of conflict.

Many fear the escalating violence could lead to an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, which would further destabilize a region already shaken by the fighting in Gaza.