Israel strikes Jamaa Islamiya

A major Israeli airstrike destroyed the headquarters of Jamaa Islamiya in the northern district of the Lebanese city of Sidon on Tuesday afternoon, according to the French-language daily L'Orient Le Jour. 

The strike came on the second day of a large-scale Israeli offensive in Lebanon, launched in response to missile attacks claimed by Hezbollah against Israeli territory.

A Designated Terrorist Organisation in the Crosshairs

Jamaa Islamiya, the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, had already been designated a terrorist organisation and sanctioned by the United States in January. 

But it was the group's deliberate pivot toward the so-called "axis of resistance" following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that appears to have sealed its fate as an Israeli target.

In the aftermath of October 7, Jamaa reactivated its military wing — the "Dawn Forces" — and conducted a series of operations alongside Hezbollah as part of what the group called the "support front" against Israel. Tuesday's strike suggests Israel has decided the time for tolerating that alignment is over.

Hezbollah Opens a New Front

The Lebanon escalation comes directly in the wake of Saturday's killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a strike on Tehran — a seismic event that has sent shockwaves across the entire regional order.

Hezbollah, which had vowed to "confront the aggression" of the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, wasted little time making good on that promise. 

On Monday, the group announced it had launched missiles and drones toward Israeli territory, opening a new front in a war that is now consuming the entire Middle East.

For Israel, fighting simultaneously on multiple fronts — Iran, Lebanon, Gaza and now the broader Gulf, represents an extraordinary military and strategic challenge. 

For Hezbollah, already severely weakened by months of Israeli strikes, the decision to escalate may prove to be its last major gamble.