Latest news with #SouthernLebanon
LBCI
09-07-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
From ground incursions to media narratives: Israel's dual approach in Lebanon—the details
Report by Amal Shehadeh, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian The question of whether Lebanon is now open to Israelis able to move from the south to the capital's southern suburbs has effectively been answered in two ways. The first came when the Israeli army admitted for the first time that it had carried out ground incursions in southern Lebanon after the ceasefire. These operations, led by the 91st Division, involved special missions and the destruction of combat assets in several areas. The second came through a report aired by Israel's Channel 12. Tel Aviv intended to send several messages with the report. By showing the reporter moving from the south to the heart of the capital, Israel is attempting to portray a narrative of victory—from alleged "ghost towns" in the south to Beirut, where Israeli airpower is portrayed as "dominant." Among those messages was a call for Hezbollah's disarmament. As for the intelligence breach, the report suggests it is extensive and ongoing. Filmed in Lebanon, the report also focused in part on Hezbollah's inability to join the war in defense of Iran—portraying Lebanon's front as the "quietest" of all. Between the Israeli messages and the realities on the ground, one thing remains unchanged: Israeli attacks continue across Lebanon.
New York Times
09-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Israel Launches New Ground Incursion in Lebanon, Raising Fears for Truce
Israel announced on Wednesday its first ground incursions in months into parts of southern Lebanon, an escalation aimed at further weakening Hezbollah as the Iran-backed militant group faces mounting pressure to disarm and avoid another potentially devastating war. The Israeli military said the 'targeted operations' had located and destroyed Hezbollah infrastructure, but it did not say when this happened. The Israeli military released footage showing what it said was soldiers conducting nighttime operations inside Lebanese territory. For months, Israel has conducted near-daily strikes against what it describes as Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, intensifying them in recent weeks. The attacks have added to growing fears that the tenuous Israeli-Hezbollah cease-fire, which has been in place since November, may not hold. Battered by last year's war with Israel and struggling to recuperate, Hezbollah has yet to respond militarily to any of the Israeli attacks since the truce was agreed. The United States and Israel have been stepping up pressure on Hezbollah to give up its arsenal — a core requirement of the cease-fire, which ended the country's deadliest conflict in decades. The war began when Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with its Palestinian ally in the Gaza Strip, Hamas, which is also backed by Iran. The Israelis went to war against Hamas immediately after the militants led the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed roughly 1,200 people. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
LBCI
07-07-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Israeli incursion reported near Aita al-Shaab shortly after midnight, state media says
An Israeli force crossed the border shortly after midnight from the Khallet Warde area and advanced toward the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency. The force reportedly advanced toward the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town and took up positions in the area.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hezbollah chief says won't disarm until Israel leaves southern Lebanon
The Hezbollah chief says the Lebanese group remains open to peace, but it will not disarm or back down from confronting Israel until it ends its air raids and withdraws from southern Lebanon. 'We cannot be asked to soften our stance or lay down arms while [Israeli] aggression continues,' Naim Qassem told thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday for Ashura, an important day in the Shia Muslim calendar. Ashura commemorates the 680 AD Battle of Karbala, in which Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate. For Shia Muslims, the day symbolises resistance against tyranny and injustice. The Beirut area, a Hezbollah stronghold, was draped in yellow banners and echoed with chants of resistance as Qassem delivered his speech, flanked by portraits of his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel in September last launched a wide-scale assault on Lebanon on October 8, 2023 – a day after Palestinian group Hamas, which counts Hezbollah as an ally, stormed the Israeli territory, killing some 1,100 people and taking about 250 others captive. The Hamas attack was immediately followed by Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The Israeli genocidal campaign was accompanied by a brutal blockade on entry of food and medical aid, bringing the enclave's 2.3 million residents to the brink of starvation. Israel's simultaneous attack on Lebanon escalated into a full-scale war by September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people, including much of Hezbollah's top leadership, and displacing nearly 1.4 million, according to official data. A United States-brokered ceasefire nominally ended the war in November. However, since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and has carried out near-daily air strikes that it says aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. Those strikes have killed some 250 people and wounded 600 others since November, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Health. 'How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?' Qassem said in his video address. 'We will not be a part of legitimising the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalisation,' he added, in an apparent response to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying his government was 'interested' in such a said Hezbollah's weapons would not be on the negotiating table unless Israel 'withdraws from the occupied territories, stops its aggression, releases the prisoners, and reconstruction begins'. 'Only then,' he said, 'will we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss national security and defence strategy.' On Saturday, Israeli drones carried out four strikes on southern Lebanese towns, killing one person and wounding several others. Most of the Israeli attacks have targeted areas near the border, but Israeli warplanes have also hit residential neighbourhoods in Beirut's southern districts, causing panic and mass evacuations. Qassem's speech came as the US envoy to Turkiye and Syria, Tom Barrack, was expected in Beirut on Monday. Lebanese officials say the US has demanded that Hezbollah disarm by the end of the year. Israel has warned it will continue striking Lebanon until the group is disarmed. But Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly called on the US and its allies to rein in Israel's attacks, noting that disarming Hezbollah is a 'sensitive, delicate issue'.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hezbollah leader refuses to disarm until Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon
BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated Sunday the militant group's refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes. He spoke in a video address, as thousands gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs to mark the Shiite holy day of Ashoura. Ashoura commemorates the 680 A.D. Battle of Karbala, in which the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate. For Shiites, the commemoration has come to symbolize resistance against tyranny and injustice. This year's commemoration comes in the wake of a bruising war between Israel and Hezbollah, which nominally ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in late November. Israeli strikes killed much of Hezbollah's top leadership, including longtime Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and destroyed much of its arsenal. Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and to carry out near-daily airstrikes that it says aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. Those strikes have killed some 250 people since November, in addition to more than 4,000 killed during the war, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. There has been increasing international and domestic pressure for Hezbollah to give up its remaining arsenal. 'How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?' Kassem said in his video address. 'We will not be part of legitimizing the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalization (with Israel).' In response to those who ask why the group needs its missile arsenal, Kassem said: 'How can we confront Israel when it attacks us if we didn't have them? Who is preventing Israel from entering villages and landing and killing young people, women and children inside their homes unless there is a resistance with certain capabilities capable of minimal defense?' His comments come ahead of an expected visit by U.S. envoy Tom Barrack to Beirut to discuss a proposed plan for Hezbollah's disarmament and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the rest of southern Lebanon. Barrack posted Saturday on X that Lebanon is facing 'a historic moment to supersede the strained confessionalism of the past and finally fulfill (its) true promise of the hope of 'One country, one people, one army'' and quoted U.S. President Donald Trump saying, 'Let's make Lebanon Great again.' Later on Sunday, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported that the Israeli military launched a series of airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, including in the area around the eastern city of Baalbek and in Apple Province, a mountainous region overlooking large parts of southern Lebanon. The Israeli military said in a statement that it had struck 'several Hezbollah military sites, strategic weapons production and storage sites, and a rocket launching site.'
