TEHRAN - The pace of events in the confrontation between Hezbollah and "Israel" is accelerating, with Hezbollah achieving new accomplishments, increasing anxiety and fear among settlers in the northern occupied territories.

This exchange of fire has diminished their hope of returning to their settlements at the beginning of September, as expressed in statements by Israeli officials at both political and military-security levels, as well as by heads of authorities in the north, along with experts, commentators, and settlers. 

Overall, their statements indicate that Hezbollah has made strategic achievements against Israel, dragging it into a war of attrition, causing military, economic, and social damage that will take a long time to recover from.

Settlers in the north are feeling humiliated. Israeli political and military officials acknowledge the challenging situation, with no immediate solutions in sight. 

Politically, Israeli Minister of Internal Security, Moshe Arbel, described the situation for northern settlers as difficult, highlighting that even holding a meeting with members of the Kiryat Shmona municipality outside their city has proven too risky. 

Arbel has urged the Israeli government to address the situation in the north, emphasizing that abandoning an entire area is not an option. 

Additionally, Israeli military sources acknowledge Hezbollah's success in striking Israeli intelligence infrastructure significantly since the early stages of the Gaza genocide, which led to additional targets being hit. 

This has forced the Israeli army to reinforce multiple defensive capabilities against attacks, allowing Hezbollah to develop its future operations, necessitating further readiness from the Israeli army. 

According to Israeli security ministry data, over seven months of fighting between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, the north has suffered 930 cases of damage, with nearly a third classified as "moderate" to "severe" damage. 

It is estimated that it will take at least a year after the war to repair. The majority of the damage so far has affected settlements-turned military zones, followed by public buildings, other infrastructure and various properties.

Additionally, Hezbollah has launched approximately 3100 rockets, mortars, anti-tank missiles, heavy artillery shells, and drones towards Israel. 

ACLED project data, which maps military confrontations worldwide, indicates that until the end of April, Hezbollah executed 992 attacks during this period.

The former Chief of Staff of the Israeli Northern Command, Major General Amos Yadlin, has stated anyone who believes the Israeli army can stop everything launched by Hezbollah (precision missiles and drones) simply hasn't grasped the situation. 

Yadlin added that Hezbollah strategically succeeded in evacuating an entire area (in northern Israel) without paying the price for it. 

The former commander of the Ground Forces, Major General Yiftah Ron-Tal, has said Israel is fighting a multi-arena war. In the north, there is a war of attrition, where Israelis are "sufficiently humiliated" with at least about 60,000 displaced from an area-turned combat zone, which Hezbollah practically "created" without paying the price for it.

Comments from local officials in the north and settlers have shown a very pessimistic tone, including harsh criticism of the Israeli government for neglecting the north.

Chairman of the Mateh Asher Council, Moshe Davidovich, told Israeli Channel Kan, "We are council presidents who respect our residents and want them to live with dignity, but what the government is doing here is destroying the north." 

Davidovich added that he sent a message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing him of "unjustifiably ignoring the reality in the north". 

Agreeing with him, the head of the Hatzor Haglilit Council, Michael Kabsa, told Israel Hayom that the government has abandoned the Israelis in the north, and government ministers do not see that revenues have fallen by 90%.

Moti Kushmehr, chairman of the tourism committee in Safed, representing more than 160 employers in the occupied city, said that businesses have recorded a 100% decrease, suffering "irreversible damage," more than during the spread of the "coronavirus" pandemic. 

He added, "We received a blow from the war, we are bankrupt, and we do not know how to provide food for the household, and I do not know how we will be able to stand on our own. Netanyahu, Smotrich, and everyone abandoned us."

As a result of the dire situation in the north, activists from the 1701 Lobby, affiliated with northern settlements, according to the Walla news site, called for the establishment of a "refugee camp" called "Galilee Refugees" as a protest against the absence of a plan to address the "collapse of the north." This initiative will be implemented very soon, according to the site.

The achievements made by Hezbollah in recent days in the confrontation with the Israeli army have been clearly evident in the analyses presented by Israeli commentators. 

Military analyst on Channel 13, Alon Ben David, said, "Hezbollah activated, for the first time, a system we have never seen operational in this war, and sent an aerial attack drone, similar to the Israeli army's - Zik - drones that launch missiles and return to their bases." 

Ben David pointed out that although Israeli army leaders do not confirm what Hezbollah has published, "based on our experience, we say that when they (Hezbollah leaders) reveal such a system and say they used it, they usually tell the truth."

Ben David added that Hezbollah scored an achievement when it succeeded in hitting the sensitive Tal Shamaim site, a surveillance balloon part of the reconnaissance and diagnosis system in the air force, through a small unmanned aerial vehicle that surpassed all Israeli defense systems and flew a distance of 35km. 

The Israeli military analyst noted small and relatively light unmanned aerial vehicles pose a major challenge to Israeli detection systems, as identifying them is very difficult.

The northern correspondent for Channel 12, Guy Pe'erun, noted that Hezbollah reached a new peak after it succeeded in launching an explosive drone towards the Al-Mutila settlement, crossed the border, and fired towards a military force before "exploding in its target on the ground," showing technology that Israel did not know Hezbollah possessed. 

Pe'erun warned that as a result of Hezbollah's actions, immunity in Israel is beginning to crack, as with each passing day, there is actual damage to the ability to return Israelis to the north.

Speaking to Channel 14, military affairs analyst Noam Amir saw "there is no freedom for the residents of the north," who have been experiencing a nightmare for 7 months, and they "do not see light at the end of the tunnel." Amir added that, for the first time in Israel's history, tens of thousands of settlers are evacuating their settlements for a period that will exceed a year, and "the Israeli army has no answer."

The military affairs analyst at the Israeli newspaper Maariv, Avi Ashkenazi, added that for the first time in its history, "Israel is conducting a war on its territories along its northern borders, contrary to its security doctrine." 

He pointed out that for the first time as well, settlers were evacuated, leading to the creation of a security belt, whereby the war is being fought on Israeli territory. This is not only a tactical problem, but also reveals Israeli weakness and sets a dangerous precedent for the future.

Concerns about the future were expressed by the writer on the Makor Rishon website, Israel Shamai, who observed that Hezbollah targets intelligence and multiple military infrastructure. This approach aims to weaken the Israeli army, which would serve Hezbollah in any future conflict.