After denouncing yesterday’s Hezbollah drone strike on an unmanned military bulldozer as a “blatant ceasefire violation,” Israeli forces have reportedly escalated the number of strikes they carried out against southern Lebanon overnight and into Wednesday.
Drone strikes were reported in several areas, including the Tyre District, where a drone struck Mansouri overnight. Israeli warships were reported off the coast near Mansouri as well, though it’s unclear if that was related to the drone attack.
Israeli drones were also seen flying overhead in metro Beirut, though so far no strikes have been reported in that area. Indeed, Israel said yesterday that their retaliation over the bulldozer attack wouldn’t include any strike on Beirut.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam plants a Lebanese flag in the ground, during a visit to Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, southern Lebanon, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces under a U.S.-brokered plan, July 22, 2026. Lebanese Prime Minister’s Press Office/Handout via REUTERS.
Gen. Haykal, Lebanon’s Army Chief, issued a statement faulting the Israeli military for obstructing Lebanese troop movements in the south, saying that they were preventing Lebanon from deploying the troops meant to be sent to the “pilot zones” with their ongoing operations.
Lebanese troops have entered one of the three pilot zones, which came under fire by Israel more or less immediately. While civilians have been allowed to trickle back into that particular pilot zone, the amount of devastation in that and the rest of the south means that getting back to any sort of normalcy is going to be a long-term effort.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, for his part, was in Turkey meeting with officials, and is courting Turkish support for the post-war recovery, in the as yet uncertain event that the war actually ends any time soon.
While that may be putting the cart before the horse, since Israel shows no sign of intending to end the occupation, it makes sense in that Turkey has been heavily supporting Syria since the Assad government’s ouster, and Turkey clearly has designs on increasing their regional influence.
That’s a double-edged sword, however, as Israeli officials have already been positioning Turkey as the “new Iran,” and Lebanon having any support from them is just going to add fuel to Israel’s military hostility, which has already culminated in the occupation of a broad swathe of southern Lebanon with no timetable for a pullout. As is often the case, Lebanon is in a very difficult position here.
