Illustrative image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
A wave of Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanon on November 27, the first anniversary of the ceasefire brokered by the United States.
The strikes targeted the towns of Jarmaq and Mahmoudiyeh, along with other areas in southern Lebanon. The IDF later said in a statement that the strikes hit Hezbollah targets, including rocket-launching sites, weapon depots, and military posts belonging to the group.
“The presence of the infrastructure and the activity of the Hezbollah terror organization in these areas constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” the military adds.
Israel has been launching strikes against Hezbollah on a regular basis since the start of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, citing “violations” by the group.
In recent weeks, it escalated its strikes, going as far as assassinating Hezbollah’s military chief Haytham Ali Tabataba in the southern suburbs of Beirut on November 23, all while accusing the group of making efforts to rebuild its military capabilities.
Following the latest wave of strikes, the IDF announced that it had killed over 370 “terror operatives” in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect on November 27 of last year.
Most of the slain operatives were members of Hezbollah, while others were from allied groups, including Hamas, according to the IDF. The operatives were targeted by strikes for violating the terms of the truce, the military said.
The IDF did not include an estimate of how many civilians were killed in Lebanon. However, the United Nation’s rights office said on November 26 that Israel had killed at least 127 civilians, including children, in its strikes on the country since the ceasefire deal.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, said more than 330 people have been killed in the country since the ceasefire came into effect.
Hezbollah has so far refused to disarm, despite the Lebanese government launching a plan to achieve this under pressure from Israel and the U.S. in September.
This pressure is only growing. A report published by Al-Akhbar newspaper on November 27, revealed that Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had warned Lebanon that it is on the verge of being hit with a massive Israeli bombing campaign and ground invasion unless Hezbollah is immediately disarmed.
According to the report, Lebanese officials were surprised by the threatening tone used by the Egyptian foreign minister. “Abdelatty delivered a clear and direct threat to Beirut,” it said.
The content of the report was later dismissed by the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, who denied that the country received an ultimatum.
Berri is head of the Shiite Amal movement, Hezbollah’s top ally in Lebanon. He likely made the remarks to calm down tensions, as well as out of respect for Egypt.
All in all, Israel appears to be determined to escalate against Hezbollah. While the IDF could escalate its strikes or even launch a full-on aerial campaign, a ground operation remains very risky. Any new invasion into southern Lebanon will be met with fierce resistance from the group.
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the way the west likes its ceasefires.
juice loves to murder, the armys fetish. they are kabal cult
i hope that trump’s successor in the white house will repeat ante gotovina and liberate crimea, donetsk, and lugansk, because that is the only appropriate payment to russia for betraying syria.
while i agree that the russians did the the syrians dirty and used them just for posturing and distraction, i think the real culprit for the fall of syria is hamas and the fact that all allies of syria besides russia descided that attacking israel is more important then helping syria. wishing the destruction of russias invasion forces is one thing but wishing an oluja on eastern ukraine is evil.
al akbhar news is the mouth piece of saudi thugs. and egyption goverment is the slave of us/israel they are cowards arabs thier militry is just to oppress thier own people but will never fight thier mastr in west,
explanation : peace is when they kill you and you don’t retaliate.