Lebanon: Accusing Hezbollah of violating peace deal, Israel strikes back
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As many expected, the short-lived Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire may have collapsed within two days on Thursday with Israel accusing Iran’s proxy terror outfit of violation of the peace deal, and resumed attacking Lebanon to flush out Shia terrorists.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) warned Lebanese citizens not to return to 60 villages in the south of the country, two days into a ceasefire after more than a year of fighting with the Shia armed group Hezbollah, the media reported on Friday.
The IDF published a map showing the territory the locals must not return to or face danger.
Over a million Lebanese have been displaced by the fighting, mostly from the south. Tens of thousands of Israelis have also been displaced.
The truce came into effect only on Wednesday morning, though officials in Israel and Lebanon accused each other of already breaching it.
On Thursday, the IDF said its forces fired artillery and carried out air strikes against targets in southern Lebanon. It fired at suspects after spotting activity at a Hezbollah weapons facility, and vehicles arriving in several areas, which it said breached the ceasefire.
Lebanon accused Israel of violating the agreement “multiple times” and said it was monitoring the situation.
A multinational monitoring group that includes representatives from the US, France, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was set up as part of the outgoing Biden administration-brokered ceasefire to oversee compliance with its terms.
In his first interview since the ceasefire was declared, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the IDF to wage “an intensive war” should Hezbollah commit a “massive violation” of the ceasefire.
The ceasefire “can be short,” he told Israel’s Channel 14.
As per the ceasefire deal, Israeli forces will withdraw from south Lebanon as the Lebanese army deploys there simultaneously with no other armed groups—read Hezbollah—allowed to operate there. This must happen within 60 days from the start of the ceasefire.
On Wednesday, the Lebanese army warned residents not to return to areas where Israeli forces were before they had withdrawn.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon early in October after the IDF intensified military action against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began the ongoing conflict with Israel by firing rockets in and around northern Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel from Gaza, which killed about 1,200 Israelis and others while the returning Sunni terrorists took over 250 hostages back with them to the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah said it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinians after Israel responded to the Hamas attack with a massive military campaign in Gaza. The Hamas-run health ministry says at least 44,330 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive.
Since October 8, Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire with increasing intensity. The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli strikes had killed at least 3,961 people and injured 16,520 others in that period. The figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Hezbollah’s attacks have killed 31 soldiers and 45 civilians inside Israel, Israeli authorities say. Another 45 Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting in southern Lebanon.
