When Hizbollah pledged retaliation for the killing last month of one of its most senior officials, many Lebanese and Israelis feared it would be the point at which the 10-month-old hostilities between the Lebanese militant group and Israel finally erupted into a full-scale war.
But although Hizbollah’s retaliatory barrage on Sunday — which was preceded by a pre-emptive strike on its launching positions by Israel — marked the biggest exchange of fire between the two sides since 2006, by evening, both were sending de-escalatory signals.
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said the Jewish state did not want “regional escalation”. Hizbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah said his group was still assessing the barrage’s impact, which targeted military sites in Israel’s north and an intelligence base near Tel Aviv. But he said if it was deemed a success, “we will consider the response operation has ended”.