The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned this Sunday that his army will act in Lebanon “as necessary” in , which he accuses of being “trying to rearm.” Shortly before, the Israeli Defense Minister, Israel Katz, had issued a statement along the same lines in which he anticipated that the troops would “intensify” operations in Lebanon and denounced the leaders of that country for “delaying” in their commitment to disarm the Shiite organization, with which the Israeli Government reached out.
Netanyahu has focused on Lebanon during a meeting with his cabinet in which he assured that Israel will use “its right to self-defense” if the Lebanese front poses a threat again. Katz, who shares a political background with the prime minister, has pointed out that “Hezbollah is playing with fire” and that the Lebanese president “is dragging his feet.” The Defense Minister has demanded that the Lebanese Government comply with, as required by the truce, and carry out the disarmament of the group throughout the country, an objective to which Beirut committed itself last August.
The statements by both Israeli leaders come weeks after a new military escalation in Lebanon began, despite the ceasefire. An Israeli missile fired at a vehicle that was traveling around Nabatieh, a city more than 10 kilometers from the border with Israel, killed its four passengers on Saturday night. Netanyahu linked them this Sunday to the Radwan Force, the elite unit of Hezbollah’s armed wing, and justified the attack by claiming that one of them was promoting the “transfer of weapons and the reestablishment of infrastructure” of the organization in the border area.
Daily hostilities over Lebanese territory have killed 16 people during the last week of October alone. The figure adds to the hundreds of deaths that Israel has caused, of which at least 111 were civilians, according to the UN reported on Tuesday.
Most of these deaths have taken place during bombings against vehicles traveling on the country’s public roads. The Israeli Government links the attacks with the fight against Hezbollah, but never provides evidence to demonstrate the military interest of its objectives, and the United States, which tolerates these attacks, does not ask for it either. Morris Tidball-Binz, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, has described these actions as a “war crime” in recent statements to the AFP agency.
Political pressure
Israeli military insistence is perceived in Lebanon as a method of pressure on the Lebanese authorities, which places them at a crossroads between assuming a new large-scale Israeli offensive – such as the one that killed more than 4,000 people between October 2023 and the signing of the truce in November 2024 – or a fight with the largest armed actor in the country that could lead to a civil conflict.
Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun is trying to avoid both scenarios. On Friday, meeting in Beirut with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, he denounced Israel for increasing attacks on Lebanon “in response” to his request last month to establish negotiations to end the occupation of territory and the bombings. The president’s complaint came hours after Israeli troops invaded the municipality of Blida early one morning, where they executed a municipal worker. The incident triggered fear among Lebanese of the imminent outbreak of a new round of conflict.
The Lebanese authorities advocate moving towards a state monopoly on weapons in a negotiated manner, something incompatible with the rhythms desired by Israel and the United States. In May, Lebanon put the dismantlement of Hezbollah’s capabilities in the south of the country at 80%. But Israel, whose Army maintains a presence in five Lebanese areas in a breach of the truce that allows it to control the border, assures that the militia is rearming, and threatens through leaks in Arab newspapers with new bombings in the suburbs of Beirut.
The White House, which mediated the ceasefire in Lebanon, abandons the patient and understanding stance it had shown towards the Beirutian leaders. Its special envoy to the region, Tom Barrack, suggested Saturday during a conference in Bahrain that Lebanon will be unable to disarm Hezbollah, describing it as a “failed state. Last week, Barrack warned in a statement that, “if Beirut continues to dither” about disarming the group, “Israel could act unilaterally.”
