Why Hezbollah Wants to Avoid All-Out War

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah was quick to open a front at the Lebanon-Israel border a day after Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, which killed 1,400 people and saw some 240 taken hostage. But the Iran-backed Shiite group has kept its own operation limited to skirmishes with the Israeli army and is making an effort to avoid dragging Lebanon into a full-blown war with Israel, largely due to Lebanon's crushing socioeconomic conditions: The country is not in a position to sustain a major war. But Hezbollah is also looking to the bigger picture — and sees its main role within the so-called Iran-led "axis of resistance" as deterring the US, not Israel.