— 🇱🇧 About Hezbollah's attack against the 'Meron' air command base & the response to the assassination of Al-Arouri

Yes, it's a step up in the escalation ladder, and Hezbollah mentioned it was merely an 'initial response'. I hope this is true, because although it's an important strategic target, it is not proportionate to Al-Arouri's assassination in Beirut.

What I think is going to happen, is that instead of opting for one large response, Hezbollah is choosing to gradually shift the gear of battle into a new stage, making it clear that targeting strategic assets and important bases will now become a regular occurence, instead of just targeting surveillance equipment, troop concentrations and tanks.

For Hezbollah it might be more advantageous if they can keep the back-and-forth battles going, striking increasingly important targets, while staying just beneath the threshold that would provoke a full-scale war from the Israelis.

If this is the type of response Hezbollah is choosing, then I expect them to strike more strategic assets in the coming days, like they did today. That would be a proportionate response, as it would be a 'continuous' gear shift, not a one-off incident. It would change the dimension of the war as a whole.

However, if this was all, then I think it is fair to say this a lackluster response to the killing of Al-Arouri, which was much more significant and symbolic. We will see in the next few days what will happen.

@Middle_East_Spectator