Israel continued with its attacks on southern Lebanon today, a year on from the ceasefire with Lebanon the strikes show no signs of abating, and indeed come with persistent threats of further escalation by the Israeli military.
A series of strikes were reported against al-Mahmoudiyah and Jezzine, and there were also media reports of a strike near the village of Jarmaq, though no casualties have yet been confirmed.
The IDF claimed the strikes targeted weapons depots and terror infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah, though as usual they provided no evidence this was actually the case. Their statement added that the presence of the purported infrastructure violated the understandings of the ceasefire, ignoring as usual the literal thousands of IDF violations of the same ceasefire.
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes on the outskirts of al-Mahmoudiyah | Image from X
Israel carries out strikes against Lebanon almost daily, and officials have repeatedly threatened to escalate the conflict, with Israeli DM Israel Katz only yesterday suggesting that Israel might launch a “new” war against Lebanon soon.
President Trump has made the unusual step of commenting on Lebanon himself, also presenting them an ultimatum to disarm Hezbollah fully by the end of 2025 or face an “unavoidable” new war.
This ultimatum is nothing new, and is effectively identical to one presented by Katz just a day prior, as well as statements made by US envoy Tom Barrack since September. The deadline is just as artificial, and just as unachievable as it was then.
The implication of a new Israeli war is a common talking point against Lebanon, though how big of a threat it is seen as is unclear, as Israel never really stopped attacking from the last war, so the distinction between an active war with Israel and an active ceasefire with Israel seems to be functionally very similar.
