Wars 2023 10/08 Monitoring the Israel and Lebanon War

[Saif]

What challenges lie ahead for US-Israel-Lebanon agreement?

Lebanon, Israel and have signed an agreement hoping to end hostilities, but experts warn that it does not guarantee peace and its implementation depends on Hezbollah and Iran...

www.newagebd.net

What challenges lie ahead for US-Israel-Lebanon agreement?
Agence France-Presse . Beirut, Lebanon 28 June, 2026, 01:49

Lebanon and Israel, under US sponsorship, have signed an agreement hoping to end hostilities, but experts warn that it does not guarantee Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and its implementation depends on Hezbollah and its backer Iran. Politics(Right)

Lebanon took the step of negotiating directly with Israel despite having no diplomatic relations, after Tehran-backed Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war.

But, with Israel saying it will not leave occupied Lebanese territory unless Hezbollah is disarmed, what traps and challenges lie ahead for the agreement?

Will Israel withdraw?

Although the framework agreement mentions an Israeli ‘redeployment’ from Lebanon, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately said that soldiers would remain in a self-declared ‘security zone’ stretching 10 kilometres from the border, ‘as long as Hezbollah has not disarmed’. Arabs& Middle Easterners

‘Yesterday ... we achieved a historic deal for the state of Israel after direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon,’ Netanyahu said in a televised briefing on the deal. ‘This is a blow to Iran and Hezbollah.’

Imad Salamey, head of the Political and International Studies Department at the Lebanese American University, told AFP that one of the agreement’s shortcomings was that it made ‘no guarantee that Israel will fully withdraw from occupied areas or significantly restrict its military operations in southern Lebanon’.

‘Without firm Israeli commitments, many residents of the south may continue to face insecurity, delayed reconstruction.’

Netanyahu said on Friday that displaced Lebanese civilians would not be allowed to return home to occupied areas.

The agreement merely mentions ‘pilot zones’, where the Lebanese military will take control after an Israeli ‘redeployment’.

An initial two zones have been agreed upon, and future pilots are to be determined by mutual consent.

The Lebanese army would, however, only assume full security responsibility for these zones upon external ‘confirmation’ that non-state armed groups, most notably Hezbollah, are disarmed there.

Where does Hezbollah stand?

From the moment Lebanese authorities announced direct talks with Israel in April, Hezbollah branded the move a ‘sin’.

On Saturday, the group’s leader Naim Qassem called the agreement ‘humiliating, shameful, and a surrender of sovereignty’.

‘This agreement is null and void, and the provisions of the Iranian-American memorandum of understanding must be implemented,’ he said.

Supporters of the group took to the streets of Beirut on Friday night to protest the framework.

Lebanese Parliament speaker and Hezbollah ally Nabih Berri cautioned on Saturday against internal strife and the Lebanese army warned that it would not permit any threat to civil peace.

In the capital’s Hamra street, Ahmad Shamas, a 48-year-old taxi driver, told AFP the agreement was ‘an agreement of humiliation and shame’.

But another resident, Husam al-Beiruti, 43, said that he was neutral towards the agreement. ‘What is the other solution? Is there any solution? Give us a solution we can follow.’

Salamey said that while Hezbollah’s rejection of the agreement was expected, ‘the real question is whether opposition remains political or evolves into direct confrontation with the Lebanese army, particularly if the state receives expanded military and financial support from the United States and its partners’.

In the agreement, Lebanon requested international and Arab support to achieve ‘the complete and verified disarmament of all non-state armed groups,’ alluding to Hezbollah. Politics(Right)

What about Iran?

According to experts, the implementation of the agreement will depend in large part on Hezbollah’s backer, Iran.

Iran has used Lebanon as a key bargaining chip in its negotiations with the United States, sometimes closing the Strait of Hormuz and threatening to walk away from talks over continued Israeli attacks on the country.

Heiko Wimmen, a researcher at the International Crisis Group, told AFP that while the government may be able to ‘take control of the process’ after the latest agreement, ‘Iranian influence in Lebanon is still alive and kicking’.

According to Salamey, the implementation ‘will depend primarily on Iran’s strategic calculations’.

‘Tehran must decide whether the benefits of continued engagement with Washington and sanctions relief outweigh the costs of preserving its military leverage in Lebanon, which has become increasingly expensive’.​

 

[Saif]

Israel strikes Lebanon despite truce framework to end hostilities

Israel renewed its strikes on Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported, two days after an agreement was signed by the two countries, which a Hezbollah lawmaker warned would lead to ‘internal conflict’...

www.newagebd.net

Israel strikes Lebanon despite truce framework to end hostilities
Agence France-Presse . Beirut, Lebanon 28 June, 2026, 22:40

Hezbollah supporters block the old airport road in the southern suburbs of Beirut, with burning tires to protest against the trilateral agreement that was signed between the US, Israel and Lebanon on Saturday. | AFP photo

Israel renewed its strikes on Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese state media reported, two days after an agreement was signed by the two countries, which a Hezbollah lawmaker warned would lead to ‘internal conflict’.

The strikes come a day after one person was killed in an Israeli strike on the south, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, with the Israeli military saying it targeted Hezbollah members near its self-proclaimed ‘security zone’, which reaches 10 kilometres into Lebanon.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported several strikes on Sunday.

The Israeli army said a soldier ‘fell in combat’ in southern Lebanon.

In a later statement, Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir approved plans for ‘continued operations in the security zone, in accordance with the ceasefire agreement’.

Hezbollah drew the country into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire aimed at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes, and Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground invasion.

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun told his US counterpart Donald Trump on Saturday that his country ‘would assume its responsibilities’ in implementing the framework agreement, which was signed in Washington on Friday after five rounds of talks.

The deal aims to pave the way for peace between Israel and Lebanon, who have officially been at war for decades, though Israel’s many conflicts across its northern border have largely been with non-state actors.

The agreement makes any Israeli withdrawal from occupied Lebanese land conditional on Beirut disarming Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deal ‘historic’ for his country.

Hezbollah strongly opposed the talks with Israel from the start and rejects the agreement, with leader Naim Qassem saying on Saturday that the group would treat the deal as ‘null and void’ and describing it as ‘a surrender of sovereignty’.

His supporters took to the streets on Friday evening to protest the framework.

An AFP correspondent saw signs on Sunday morning that read ‘Lebanon first’ being burned along Beirut’s airport road, which borders the city’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, after previous billboards saying ‘thank you Iran’ were removed.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said on Sunday that ‘the agreement of humiliation and disgrace signed by the authorities will never see the light of day’.

He added that what ‘the authorities have done amounts to sedition aimed at pushing the country into chaos and shifting the conflict from one with the enemy to an internal conflict’.

Hezbollah repeatedly asked Lebanese authorities to link themselves to Iran’s negotiations to end its war with the US, while Tehran has insisted any ceasefire for the Middle East war should include Lebanon.

In a phone conversation with his Lebanese counterpart Nabih Berri, Iranian parliament speaker and head of Tehran’s negotiating delegation Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said that ‘our goal is to end the war in Lebanon, return the refugees to their homes and remove the occupation and the withdrawal of the Zionist regime from the Lebanese territory, and we are seriously pursuing this issue’.

According to the text of the deal shared by the US State Department, Lebanon and Israel expressed their intent to ‘conclusively end the conflict, address its underlying causes and... formally conclude any state of war between them’.

Under the agreement, Lebanon’s military will ‘restore effective sovereign authority over all Lebanese territory, pending the verified disarmament of non-state armed groups’.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz, however, has insisted troops will stay in Lebanon so long as Hezbollah remains armed.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.newagebd.net/post/africa/304803/6-lakh-displaced-lebanese-return-home-amid-ceasefire-iom

6 lakh displaced Lebanese return home amid ceasefire: IOM
Agence France-Presse . Beirut, Lebanon 03 July, 2026, 22:57

More than 6,40,000 displaced people in Lebanon have returned home, according to the International Organization for Migration, as clashes between Hezbollah and Israel have wound down following a deal to end the Middle East war.

Lebanon was drawn into the regional war on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and an invasion of southern Lebanon, where its troops still occupy swathes of territory.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks have killed roughly 4,300 people and displaced over one million, particularly from southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

In a report on Thursday, the IOM said ‘646,107 IDPs (internally displaced persons) have begun returning to their communities,’ while about 500,000 other people remain displaced, based on data collected in coordination with local authorities since June 22.

An agreement signed by Tehran and Washington last month established a ceasefire in Lebanon starting June 21.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have returned to their homes in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Lebanese authorities say they have worked to remove informal tent encampments in and around Beirut and reduce the number of official shelters.

But it remains impossible to return to dozens of towns and villages near the southern border, many of which have suffered massive destruction.

Israeli officials moreover vow their forces will remain in a ‘security zone’ 10 kilometres deep, despite the ceasefire.

Last week Lebanon and Israel concluded a US-backed framework agreement aiming to pave the way for a permanent end to the war.

The agreement calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army there — starting with two ‘pilot’ areas.

However, the agreement — rejected by Hezbollah — does not set a timetable for Israeli withdrawal.

Instead, it makes Israeli withdrawal contingent on Hezbollah’s disarmament first, a tall order that experts say the Lebanese state cannot meet.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.newagebd.net/post/middle-east/305184/israeli-strike-on-lebanon-kills-four

Israeli strike on Lebanon kills four
Agence France-Presse . Beirut, Lebanon 07 July, 2026, 00:20

First responders inspect the wreckage of a car reportedly targeted by an Israeli strike in Nabatieh, Lebanon, on Monday. | AFP photo

Lebanese state media said an Israeli strike on a car in the country’s south on Monday killed four people, including three women, despite a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said a school principal, her mother, a foreign female domestic worker and a male Syrian worker were killed when ‘an Israeli drone targeted the car’ they were travelling in as they returned from inspecting their family home in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

Israel has kept up intermittent strikes on south Lebanon, particularly in the Nabatieh area, despite the two-week-old truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites and operatives, with both sides accusing the other of violations.

An agreement signed by the United States and Iran on ending the regional war last month also established a ceasefire in Lebanon, which took effect on June 21.

Days later after talks in Washington, Lebanon and Israel agreed to a US-backed framework agreement aiming to pave the way for a permanent end to hostilities.

Hezbollah, which drew Lebanon into the wider Middle East war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel, has rejected the framework.

The deal calls for the disarmament of the Iran-backed group, a gradual Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon and the deployment of the Lebanese army there, starting with two ‘pilot’ areas, but without specifying a timeline for the pull-out.

On Sunday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that Israel’s military would maintain its presence in southern Lebanon ‘as long as necessary in order to protect the residents of the north and all the citizens of Israel’.

Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks since March 2 have killed some 4,300 people.

According to the United Nations, more than 6,40,000 displaced people have returned home in Lebanon since June 22, after authorities said the conflict had displaced more than one million.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu said on Sunday that some Christian villages in southern Lebanon had asked to be annexed by Israel, in order to be protected from Hezbollah militants.

‘Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against the Hezbollah, Hezbollah fanatics who want to kill them, and we do the same things with Christians everywhere,’ Netanyahu told Fox News show ‘The Sunday Briefing’.

Netanyahu did not name the Christian villages he said had made such a request.

The mayor of the Christian village of Rmeish, Hanna al-Amil, was quoted by Lebanese public broadcaster NNA as denying Netanyahu’s claim.

Amil said that even contemplating the idea was ‘absolutely out of the question’ and said that ‘15 Christian towns had issued a statement two days ago denying these allegations’.

The villages on Friday reaffirmed their determination to stay on their land, stressing their ‘loyalty to their national identity’ and their ‘attachment to their Lebanese flag’.

Since the war began, some Christian villages in southern Lebanon have endured Israeli shelling, airstrikes, displacement and infrastructure damage.​

 

[Saif]

https://www.newagebd.net/post/middle-east/305530/amnesty-urges-investigating-israeli-attacks-on-lebanon-as-war-crimes

Amnesty urges investigating Israeli attacks on Lebanon as ‘war crimes’
Agence France-Presse . Beirut, Lebanon 09 July, 2026, 22:53

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Israel of wiping out families in its strikes on Lebanon during its war with Hezbollah, calling for these attacks to be investigated as war crimes.

Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war on March 2 by launching rockets at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with major airstrikes and a ground invasion, killing more than 4,300 people according to Lebanese authorities, including more than 250 children.

Amnesty analysed three strikes on civilian homes between March 6 and 13, in which 24 civilians were killed, 12 of them children.

The London-based rights group accused Israel of ‘wiping out families’ in those strikes and called for them to be treated as ‘war crimes’.

The group said it reached out to Israeli authorities, who said that some of the attacks ‘were carried out against Hezbollah military objectives’, while others were ‘referred for examination’.

The authorities told Amnesty they were ‘committed to mitigating harm to civilians during operational activity’.

‘Despite follow up, the Israeli military did not provide specific information regarding the three attacks... including what the targets may have been,’ Amnesty added.

Its findings in the investigation were based on interviews with 15 people, including survivors, relatives, paramedics, journalists who visited attack sites and local officials.

‘Based on the evidence gathered, in each of these air strikes, Amnesty International has reasonable basis to conclude that Israeli forces violated international humanitarian law, including by failing to distinguish between civilians and military objectives, by carrying out attacks directed against civilians or civilian objects, or by failing to take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians,’ the report read.

Kristine Beckerle, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said that ‘within the space of just a week — the Israeli military obliterated entire families, including a dozen children, in Lebanon, demonstrating a callous disregard for civilian lives’.

‘States must impose an immediate comprehensive arms embargo on Israel and use universal and extraterritorial jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute those responsible,’ she added.

Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said, in a statement on Thursday, that the military’s operations in Lebanon were a response to attacks by Hezbollah.

‘The terrorist organisation Hezbollah has attacked Israel twice on its own initiative,’ Katz said, without specifying whether he was responding to Amnesty’s report.

‘Israel responded with force and, over the past two and half years, has crushed most of Hezbollah’s capabilities and its leadership,’ adding that Israeli forces would remain in their self-declared ‘security zone’ inside Lebanon ‘as long as necessary’ to protect Israel’s northern communities.

Last month, Lebanon and Israel concluded a US-backed framework agreement aiming to pave the way for a permanent end to hostilities.

It was preceded by a memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States to end the broader Middle East conflict, which included a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Despite this, Israel still carries out intermittent strikes on southern Lebanon, some of them deadly.​