Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Zibqin in southern Lebanon on August 25, 2024, amid an escalation in ongoing cross-border tensions as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Photo: VCG

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon exchanged extensive fire early Sunday, marking the most serious direct conflict between them during the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict that started October 2023. 

Hamas said on Sunday that the Hezbollah strikes are a slap in the face for the Israeli government, media reported.

Chinese analysts said that the Gaza crisis has already escalated into more regions in the Middle East as Israel has previously attacked multiple targets in Lebanon and Iran, and that international mediation efforts remain difficult. 

The IDF said it conducted strikes on 40 areas in southern Lebanon to preemptively foil "an extensive attack" by Hezbollah, and launched more strikes later in the day. Hezbollah said it launched drones and more than 320 rockets against Israeli military targets to avenge the killing of a commander, Fuad Shukr, in a Beirut suburb in July.

The Guardian said the current tit-for-tat strikes has raised concerns of escalation into all-out war.

However, analysts consider that an all-out war is not very likely because the two sides do not have enough strength to launch full attacks, including ground attacks, against each other. 

"The danger of escalation exists, but the two sides will mainly use airstrikes or rockets and drones to exchange fire, as Hezbollah claimed that the operation is in response for the killing of their commander [Fuad] Shukr, and based on the deployment of the IDF, Israel is not able to launch a ground offensive into Lebanon," Wang Jin, an associate professor at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwest University in Xi'an, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Li Xinggang, a research fellow at the Institute for Studies on the Mediterranean Rim at Zhejiang International Studies University, said the international community is still making efforts to promote peace in the Middle East, but there are too many conflicts that need to be mediated, so the difficulty of achieving a cease-fire in the region is increasing.