Israel's "over 100 attacks in ten minutes" against Hezbollah targets on Wednesday came in the wake of the news that the US and Iran had entered into a ceasefire overnight.
Isabell Schierenbeck, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg, says that there are several possible explanations for Israel's actions.
One is that Israel had planned an intensification of the attacks earlier and is following that plan. Another is that Israel believes time is running out. On Friday, negotiations between the US and Iran begin, Israel thinks that the war in Lebanon will be part of these, and thus it wants to hurry and strike as much as possible against Hezbollah, says Schierenbeck.
Hope to bomb again
Aron Lund, Middle East analyst at the Swedish National Defense Research Institute, says the same.
If Israel fears that the war in Lebanon could be stopped - that Trump will sooner or later put his foot down and announce that now it will be enough there too - then Israel, of course, wants to do as much damage as possible to Hezbollah before the war is called off. It could also be a practical issue: that Israel has found targets it is particularly keen to strike, says Lund.
He further says that Israel appears to have been prepared for a ceasefire between the US and Iran, and is probably not satisfied that it has been concluded now.
They probably would have bombed Iran for a while longer if they had been able to, and perhaps hope to be able to do so again, says Lund.
Goals not met
Isabell Schierenbeck believes that the Israeli government is dissatisfied with the ceasefire between the US and Iran.
Israel does not believe the military goals it has set for Iran have been met, such as eliminating the nuclear and ballistic missile programs and taking control of enriched uranium, says Schierenbeck.
Wednesday's attack could therefore be a way for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to further weaken Hezbollah, she continues.
There is also a voter base in the US and in Israel that needs to be taken care of; both Trump and Netanyahu are well aware of this ahead of the upcoming elections, says Schierenbeck.
