Networks from around the world have been relying on Ford School professor Javed Ali’s expertise in counterterrorism for reports on the Israeli-Hezbollah confrontations. Here are some of Ali’s excerpts from the past few weeks.
“IDF launched over 300 strikes on Hezbollah” BBC News, September 23, 2024 - Ali told BBC News the IDF strikes on Hezbollah “seem to be falling in line with the Israel strategy we’ve seen in the past… there will probably be a ground component of this.” Ali also expressed concern that it may be “the time for Iran and Hezbollah or even Hezbollah unilaterally to conduct the type of terrorist operations that Hezbollah very successfully carried out against the United States and Israel… the threat from Hezbollah may not just be contained to just the region itself.”
“Massive new round of strikes in Middle East” ABC News, September 23, 2024 - Ali affirmed that “Hezbollah has not really scratched the surface yet of the significant capability that they possess to launch operations much deeper into Israel… [Terrorist attacks] might be something [Hezbollah is] considering or even planning… but I don’t get the sense now that they are actively trying to target the U.S. region.”
“IDF: 150 rockets fired from Lebanon at Israel” Fox Now, September 20, 2024 - On the 150 Lebanese rockets fired at Israel, Ali commented “This is just sending a message, I don’t believe this is the retaliation that [Nasrallah] warned about… Hezbollah has far, far more capability to threaten Israel and launch these kinds of attacks but much bigger in scale and scope.” “We’re heading into a very serious moment here because if this war gets underway between Israel and Hezbollah, not only will it have regional implications but it could have global implications” Ali also proposed that “If things really ratchet up [between Lebanon and Israel), then I think the fight could look even worse than the Israel and Hamas war.”
“Hezbollah's leader vows revenge against Israel for pager attack” ABC News, September 19, 2024 - “There are multiple objectives that Israel tried to achieve over the last few days: to kill and injure as many Hezbollah personal as they could, really make it difficult for Hezbollah as an organization to communicate, and break the stalemate between Hezbollah and Israel” When asked about what this attack could mean for the U.S., Ali warned on ABC News “When Nasrallah says that not only is Israel responsible for what has happened to [Hezbollah] but also the U.S., he’s connecting to that past tension… Hezbollah might potentially try to lash out at the U.S.”
“What we know about the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria” ABC News, September 18, 2024 - Speaking about the exploding pagers in Lebanon, Ali said, “This clearly was a very complex operation involving multiple elements of Israel's security apparatus… involving dozens if not hundreds of people on the Israeli side, and also there was probably a bit of luck involved as well” He said he believes, “The rhetoric from the Israeli side is that it doesn’t seem [an end to the Israel and Hamas war] is immediately on the horizon and they’ve also talked about putting a lot more pressure on Hezbollah and restoring deterrence, perhaps the operation yesterday [the pager attack] was the opening salvo of that.”
“Hezbollah Attacked by Explosive Pagers” WJR, September 18, 2024 - Ali told WJR the pager attack “is unprecedented in terms of the scope and scale and the sophistication of this Israeli operation… We’ve seen these spikes in potential activity that could lead to further escalation.”
“Karaoke, crime and the 'unhackable' app” ABC Australia, September 18, 2024 - Following the pager attack on Hezbollah, Ali shared with ABC Australia “I would be surprised if Hezbollah does not try to respond in perhaps a way they haven’t before because if they don’t they are going to look very weak… I think the ball is back in the court of Nasrallah”
