Middle East & Arab World Lebanon/Hezbollah/Israel November 2024-April 2026

Something New Is Happening in Lebanon
For the first time, the country’s government is directly confronting a weakened Hezbollah.
By Hussein Ibish
(The Atlantic) Why now? The answer is partly that Hezbollah is much weaker than it used to be. After Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Israel initiated a devastating campaign that took out most of Hezbollah’s leadership. This seems to have emboldened the Lebanese government to finish the job by disarming the group. Even more important, the current U.S.-Iran conflict has helped solidify a consensus that Lebanon must no longer be dragged into catastrophic wars that have zero relevance to any of its national interests. – 6 March 2025

25 April
Lebanese Ask, ‘What Cease-Fire?’ as Violence Simmers in the South
The fragile truce in Lebanon was extended…this week but has come under threat as Israel and Hezbollah have traded attacks.
(NYT)… Under the terms of the truce, as published by the U.S. State Department after it was first announced in mid-April, Israel has the right to act in self-defense “against planned, imminent, or ongoing attacks.” It has cited that as a justification for continuing to carry out strikes inside Lebanon. In recent days, its attacks have been concentrated in the south, a Hezbollah stronghold where the group has long exercised de facto control and enjoys broad support.

21 April
How Israel Lost Its Way and How Trump Can Save Lebanon
Thomas L. Friedman
… Do I know that Israel has a fundamental interest in trying in every way possible to separate from the Palestinians, lest it end up as a Jewish-run apartheid state? Absolutely. Do I believe that Iran and its proxies pose a lethal threat to Israel that could not be ignored? Again, absolutely. But do I also believe that without a Palestinian partner, it looks to the world that Bibi’s strategy is to make Israel safe for ethnic cleansing of the West Bank — and that this is losing Israel its best friends everywhere? You bet I do.
Dear Israel: When centrist, longtime pro-Israel Democrats in the United States like Rahm Emanuel go on “Real Time With Bill Maher,” as he did last week, and state to overwhelming audience applause that they oppose subsidized U.S. military aid to Israel and question its “special” status, you’re indeed running out of friends. It is not only on the left. More and more Americans across the spectrum see Netanyahu’s Israel as a spoiled child, and they’re just fed up with it. …

17 April
What to Know About the Israel-Lebanon Cease-Fire
The pause in fighting would remove a major hindrance to the U.S.-Iran peace talks, if it holds.
What is in the agreement?
(NYT) The U.S. State Department, outlining the truce in a memo on Thursday, said that Israel and Lebanon had agreed that only Lebanon’s official security forces would be authorized to bear arms in southern Lebanon, which borders Israel. It said Israel would retain its right to act in self-defense, but would not carry out “offensive operations” against Lebanese targets by land, air or sea.
The memo said that the Lebanese government, with international support, would be expected to take “meaningful steps” to prevent Hezbollah from carrying out attacks against Israeli targets. The country’s military, however, has long been too weak to control Hezbollah, which they have accused of operating at Iran’s behest. … Hezbollah has in the past abided by some deals negotiated by the Lebanese government. Analysts say Hezbollah has little incentive to resume attacks, given the severe humanitarian toll the war has taken on its support base.

16 April
A Timeline of the Lebanon-Israel Relationship
Israeli and Lebanese officials this week met in Washington for direct talks between two nations, which have technically been at war since 1948.
(NYT) President Trump announced on Thursday that the leaders of Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day cease-fire, a development that could bring an end to fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group, Hezbollah.
… Lebanon’s prime minister welcomed news of the cease-fire. Hezbollah and Israel have yet to comment.
Central to the dispute is Israel’s conflict with Lebanese-based Hezbollah militants, marked for decades by cross-border attacks, repeated Israeli invasions and tenuous truces. Lebanon’s government has been caught between the warring sides. It has long struggled to balance any effort to curb Hezbollah — whose forces outstrip the government’s in parts of the south — with fears of inflaming sectarian conflict.
Arab-Israeli wars
In 1948, five armies from Arab countries, including Lebanon’s, invaded Israel after it declared itself an independent state, sparking the first Arab-Israeli war. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled, including many to refugee camps in Lebanon.
In 1949, Israel and Lebanon agreed to an armistice along their internationally demarcated border, though they have never signed a formal peace treaty. …

15 April
Israel bombs homes in southern Lebanon
The Israeli army has bombed buildings in southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil district. Military footage shows the moments when Israel struck a residential block near the Bint Jbeil Governmental hospital in Aynata, and a house in the Al-Maslak neighbourhood.

Israel and Hezbollah continue attacks after Israel-Lebanon talks in US
(BBC) Fighting between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah has continued after Israel and Lebanon held direct talks in Washington aimed at easing the conflict.
On Wednesday, Israeli strikes hit two vehicles on the coastal highway south of Beirut, near the towns of Saadiyat and Jiyeh and outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.
In northern Israel, a man was wounded in the town of Tamra after Hezbollah launched about 30 rockets across the border, according to medics and the military.
Hezbollah said it had launched rockets at 10 locations in northern Israel.
The Israeli military also said Israeli troops were continuing ground operations in southern Lebanon and that more than 200 Hezbollah infrastructure sites there, including rocket launchers, had been struck over the past 24 hours.
And it renewed calls for residents across a large part of southern Lebanon to evacuate amid the ongoing air and artillery bombardment.
Although Israel has avoided striking Beirut itself since its wave of attacks across the country a week ago, which Lebanese authorities say killed more than 350 people in only 10 minutes, it has continued to strike southern and eastern areas.

14 April
Live Updates: U.S. Says Israel and Lebanon Agree to More Peace Talks
Fighting continued in southern Lebanon between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, even as Israeli and Lebanese diplomats met in Washington. The war in Lebanon has threatened to undermine the U.S.-Iran cease-fire.
… Israel and Lebanon agreed to “launch direct negotiations” after their ambassadors held “productive discussions” hosted by the Trump administration on Tuesday, according to a statement released by the State Department. The statement reiterated core Israeli and Lebanese positions, including Israel’s demand for an end to Iranian influence over its northern neighbor, where Tehran funds and directs Hezbollah militants, and Lebanon’s assertion of its territorial sovereignty, which it says Israel has violated with attacks on Hezbollah.
Israel-Lebanon Talks Face a Hezbollah Problem
Iran’s most formidable proxy has rejected the negotiations altogether.
(Bloomberg) Lebanon and Israel are about to hold their first direct talks in decades, a historic moment for two countries that have been locked in a state of war for decades.
But the road to a peace deal is mired with difficulty.
Lebanon wants a ceasefire before discussing other items in the US-hosted negotiations set to begin today. Israel doesn’t accept that and will demand, once again, that Lebanon disarms Hezbollah.
The militant group, Iran’s most formidable proxy, has rejected the talks altogether and said it won’t abide by any terms set.
Hezbollah has repeatedly opposed any attempts to force its surrender. Yet it’s under more pressure than ever, facing Israeli attacks and an army advancing into its most valuable strongholds in south Lebanon while dealing with a government in Beirut that has banned its military activity and wants to see it disarmed.

8-9 April
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon could unravel the US-Iran ceasefire
Mohamad Bazzi
Trump is on the verge of squandering a ceasefire that serves US interests for the sake of an unreliable ally
(The Guardian) By Wednesday afternoon, Israel had launched its largest and most destructive attack on Lebanon in years, killing at least 300 people and wounding more than 1,100. Dozens of Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on 100 targets across Lebanon within 10 minutes, with the Israeli military claiming it was targeting Hezbollah “command centers” in an operation it called “Eternal Darkness”. But Israeli warplanes leveled several buildings in crowded residential neighborhoods of Beirut, spreading panic in the Lebanese capital and overwhelming hospitals with hundreds of casualties. Israel also continued bombing Lebanon’s infrastructure, destroying the last remaining bridge that linked southern Lebanon to the rest of the country.
Israel’s escalating attacks on Lebanon could unravel the two-week ceasefire even before negotiations between the US and Iran, which are expected to start on Saturday in Islamabad. Iranian leaders are accusing the US of failing to uphold the truce and threatening to back out of it unless Washington restrains its ally. “The U.S. must choose – ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, wrote on Twitter/X on Wednesday. “The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments.”
On Thursday [9 April], Netanyahu announced that his government would start direct negotiations with Lebanon on disarming Hezbollah, but he insisted that Israel would continue its attacks. “There is no ceasefire in Lebanon,” he said in a recorded message to residents of northern Israel. The Israeli military launched a new wave of air strikes shortly afterward.
Middle East crisis live: Red Cross ‘outraged’ as Israeli strikes on Lebanon kill at least 254; strait of Hormuz impasse continues
(The Guardian) As Israel attacks on Lebanon continue, Abbas Araghchi points to announcement that says ceasefire includes Lebanon while JD Vance says US never promised that
Middle East ceasefire in serious doubt as Israel assaults Lebanon and Iran blocks oil tankers
Lebanon mourns as Israel raids shake Trump, Tehran ceasefire
(Al Jazeera) Lebanon declares day of mourning following wave of Israeli attacks that killed at least 254 people, injured more than 1,165 in a single day on Wednesday, as Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said to be mobilising “all of Lebanon’s political and diplomatic resources to stop the Israeli killing machine”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lebanon was not included in ceasefire between the United States and Iran, as US Vice President JD Vance also says, “We never made that promise.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the US-Iran “terms are clear” regarding Lebanon, and Washington must choose between a “ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both”.
Al Jazeera Media Network condemned Israel’s “targeting and killing” of Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, Mohammed Wishah, as a “heinous crime”.
Middle East ceasefire in serious doubt as Israel assaults Lebanon and Iran blocks oil tankers
Inclusion of Lebanon is significant difference in interpretation of truce agreed at 11th hour on Tuesday
Israel struck more than 100 targets in Beirut and across Lebanon on Wednesday
The fate of the two-week ceasefire in the Iran conflict looked uncertain on Wednesday as both sides gave divergent versions of what had been agreed, Israel intensified its bombing campaign in Lebanon and Iran halted the passage of oil tankers because of an alleged Israeli ceasefire breach.
Iran and Pakistan, which brokered the 11th-hour truce, both asserted that the ceasefire included Lebanon. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, disagreed and Israeli forces unleashed their heaviest attack of the war so far on more than 100 targets and killing at least 254 people

3-9 April
Lebanon mourns as Israel raids shake Trump, Tehran ceasefire
Lebanon’s Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine appeals for international assistance as health system strains to treat mass civilian casualties from day of attacks by Israel
Doctors Without Borders describes civilian impact of Israel’s strikes on Lebanon
(CBC Radio As It Happens)  Christopher Stokes, Doctors Without Borders’ co-ordinator in Lebanon, says the people in the country woke up on Wednesday with a sense of hope after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a temporary ceasefire. Then the bombs started falling. He told As It Happens host Nil Köksal what he saw throughout the day as Israel launched what it called its largest co-ordinated strikes of the war so far.
In Lebanon, more than 50 medics have been killed by Israel. Some say they’re targeted
(NPR) Lebanon’s government says at least 54 health workers are among more than 1,400 people killed by Israel during the current invasion. Some human rights groups say first responders are being targeted — something Israel denies.
(The World) Israel is pushing deep into the southern part of the country in its campaign against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, a powerful militant force and political party that long has exercised de facto control over much of Lebanon’s Shia community. To describe its strategy in this war, the Israeli military has invoked the devastation it wrought in Gaza after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. At one point last month, Israeli warplanes even dropped leaflets over Beirut warning that after “great success in Gaza, a new reality is coming to Lebanon, too.” As it did with Hamas in Gaza, Israel accuses Hezbollah of hiding in and operating from civilian areas and using hospitals and ambulances for military purposes, claims that have been debunked. Israel has increasingly targeted Lebanese first responders and medical centers, forcing several hospitals to evacuate. Since the war between Israel and Hezbollah reignited on March 2, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 56 health professionals as of Monday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Israel has carried out more than 150 attacks against emergency medical workers and ambulances, and forced the closure of six hospitals and 49 health clinics through attacks or threats, the ministry reported.
How Israel is destroying healthcare infrastructure in southern Lebanon
Israel’s attacks on hospitals, medical centres and healthcare workers are fuelling displacement and a health crisis.

3 April
Israel threatens to destroy more Lebanon bridges as crisis mounts
Threat comes as Israeli invasion of Lebanon expands, spurring more fear, displacement and deadly attacks.
Israel’s military has threatened to destroy more bridges in southern Lebanon in what observers say is an attempt to cut the area off from the rest of the country as Israeli forces press forward with a devastating ground invasion.
In a social media post on Friday, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said the military planned to bomb the Sohmor and Mashghara bridges over the Litani River in the western Bekaa Valley, claiming they are being used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah
“These are two main bridges – the main arteries for goods, for people, for movement – between the rest of Lebanon and the western Bekaa,” Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto reported from Tyre in southern Lebanon.
“If these bridges are destroyed, it will essentially isolate the western Bekaa from the rest of Lebanon. It will make it extremely difficult for people trying to cross into the western Bekaa Valley and reach the main hub of Chtoura, to reach hospitals and other public services.”
Earlier on Friday, the South Lebanon Water Establishment said Israeli strikes damaged key water infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
“The targeting of vital facilities, especially water facilities, is a clear and explicit violation of all international conventions and norms that require the neutrality of institutions and facilities that provide basic services to civilians from acts of war,” the authority said.
The Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, which began on March 2 after Hezbollah fired missiles into northern Israel in response to the United States-Israeli war on Iran, has forced more than 1.2 million people from their homes.
Israel’s attacks have killed at least 1,345 people and wounded more than 4,000 across the country, according to the latest figures from Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
At least three United Nations peacekeepers also were killed in southern Lebanon this week as the violence has escalated during Israel’s deepening invasion.

1 April
Israel strikes Lebanon as Trump is set to deliver a speech on the Iran war
(NPR) … Meanwhile, Israel has drawn a rebuke from Europe after expanding its invasion of southern Lebanon.
Israel strikes Beirut’s coast as Europe urges de-escalation
An Israeli airstrike in Beirut’s Mediterranean coast killed at least seven people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Video shared by locals on social media shows flames shooting up from a residential area of Jnah, just north of Beirut’s airport. It was one of several strikes on the capital’s outskirts.
Lebanon is another major front in the larger Middle East war, and fighting there might continue even if the U.S. stopped bombing Iran.
Israel says it is attacking the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which began firing rockets into northern Israel in early March after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes in Iran. Israel’s military said it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s southern Lebanese front in an overnight strike around Beirut.
War-torn Lebanon is facing ‘fastest growing displacement crisis in the world,’ says international aid organization president
David Miliband, President of the International Rescue Committee made these remarks during an online briefing with journalists after visiting Lebanon and Syria.
Israel has issued evacuation orders for large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs. Only a small portion of them are staying in government-run public schools turned-shelters, while others stay with family or even in tents on the streets.
… Miliband…decried the tiny country’s situation as a “silent emergency that is getting very little attention.”

31 March
Lebanon condemns Israel’s ‘clear intention’ to impose new occupation of its territory
(France 24) Lebanon said Israeli strikes hit near Beirut’s airport road on Tuesday as the UN Security Council met after three peacekeepers were killed. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said troops would occupy parts of southern Lebanon even after the war, prompting Beirut to warn of a “clear intention” to impose a new occupation.

24 March
France warns Israel against Lebanon ground offensive
Israel’s defense minister wants to establish a “buffer zone” against Hezbollah rocket fire that would comprise almost a tenth of Lebanon’s territory.
(Politico Eu) French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged Israel on Tuesday not to expand its military campaign in southern Lebanon, warning a ground offensive would deepen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
“We urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from such ground operations which would have major humanitarian consequences and would worsen the already dramatic situation in the country,” Barrot said in an interview with Agence France-Presse.
His comments come as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River — almost a tenth of Lebanon’s territory.
Israel bombs petrol station in southern Lebanon (video)
An Israeli attack has hit a petrol station in southern Lebanon, near the Rashidieh Camp for Palestinian refugees, triggering a huge explosion and fire. The Israeli army had issued forced displacement orders to residents.

23 March
Israeli minister calls for annexation of southern Lebanon
Israel, Hezbollah fighting in spillover of Iran war
‘The new Israeli border must be the Litani,’ Smotrich says
Israel expands Lebanon assault with strikes on bridges, homes
(Reuters) – Israel should extend its border with Lebanon up to the Litani ​River deep inside the country’s south, Israel’s finance minister said on Monday as Israeli troops bombed bridges and destroyed homes in an escalating military assault.
The comments by ‌Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich were the most explicit yet by a senior Israeli official on seizing Lebanese territory in a fight Israel says targets Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

22 March
On Beirut’s Waterfront, Loss Meets Life, and Luxury, Amid War
Thousands displaced by Israeli strikes on Lebanon’s capital now shelter along the promenade hugging the Mediterranean Sea. They share it with joggers, cyclists and dog walkers, alongside dizzying displays of wealth.

20 March
Israel’s War to Crush Hezbollah Leaves a Weakened Lebanon Near Ruin
Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced and huge swathes of land lie in ruins, but Beirut is virtually powerless to protect its people.
By Caroline Alexander and Fadwa Hodali
(Bloomberg) …Hezbollah…has operated almost like a state within a state for at least 25 years in Lebanon, with its own armed forces, schools, hospitals and financial networks. Now the militant group — badly degraded in the year-long war which began after it fired rockets at Israel just after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel’s south in October 2023 — has reached a crossroads.
Its main benefactor, Iran, is under intense pressure, and Hezbollah’s avowed enemy, Israel, seems determined to forcibly remake Lebanon by imposing an as yet unspecified buffer zone in the south of the country. Meanwhile neighboring Syria, which under the Assad regime allowed weapons to be smuggled across the border, is now under the leadership of an unfriendly Sunni government.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said this week that air strikes in southern Lebanon were aimed not only at disrupting Hezbollah’s movements but also at sending a “clear message to the Lebanese government.”
With international attention focused on the US-Israel military campaign in Iran, Lebanon has emerged as a major theater in the ensuing regional war. …
When he announced the latest Lebanon push on Monday, Katz drew a direct comparison to the Israel Defense Forces’ operations in Gaza over the last two years: “Prime Minister Netanyahu and I instructed the IDF to take action and destroy the terrorist infrastructure in front-line villages abutting the Lebanese border, in order to prevent threats and a return of Hezbollah there — precisely as was done vis-a-vis Hamas in Rafah, Beit Hanoun and the terror tunnels of Gaza.”

19 March
Lebanon’s leaders must take on Hizbullah
And Israel must not play the spoiler
(The Economist) More often than not, Lebanon is a cautionary tale. Poor governance, foreign meddling and catastrophic economic mismanagement have hollowed out the state. But the most destabilising force in the country has been Hizbullah, a fearsome militia backed by Iran. Lebanon’s government now has a chance to dislodge it. But it needs to act firmly, and fast.
Hizbullah, long the most heavily armed non-state actor in the world and the most powerful military force in Lebanon, has never looked weaker. Israel has killed many of its leaders and destroyed tens of thousands of the missiles it has pointed at northern Israel. Its patron is now battling for its own survival. Anger has grown among its Shia supporters in Lebanon at its failure to rebuild what Israel destroyed in the south of the country in 2024.
Israel has launched a devastating series of air strikes which have killed over 950 people and displaced more than a million. Israel aims to finally smash Hizbullah. Instead, it risks reviving it. In contrast to Israel’s campaign in 2024, which many Lebanese recognised to be an attack on Hizbullah, the scale of this assault makes it look like an attack on Lebanon itself. A ground incursion may be next. Israel’s invasion in 1982 led to an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon and the emergence of Hizbullah. Fighting a new wave of occupiers would help Hizbullah recover its grip.
Israel Is Missing Its Big Chance in Lebanon
The Lebanese are furious with Hezbollah, but Israel keeps giving it more reasons to fight.
By Hussein Ibish
(The Atlantic) Suddenly, Israel has a remarkable opportunity for a diplomatic breakthrough in Lebanon. You’d be forgiven for not knowing about this, because both Israel and Hezbollah seem committed instead to a spiraling conflict.
Hezbollah apparently decided to plunge itself, and Lebanon, into the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran because it believes that it faces an existential crisis. Israel destroyed much of the organization’s missile arsenal in 2023–24, decimated its ranks of commanders, and wiped out most of its political leadership. Hezbollah seems to have concluded that it needs to act now to restore deterrence. …
UAE says it dismantled ‘terrorist network’ funded by Iran and Hezbollah
(Reuters) – United Arab Emirates authorities said on Friday they had dismantled ​a “terrorist network” funded and operated by Lebanon’s ‌Hezbollah and Iran, and arrested its members.
According to the state news agency, the network was involved in “money ​laundering, financing terrorism and threatening national security.”

18 March

What to know about the resurgent war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon
(AP) — The latest war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has escalated quickly.
Israeli strikes hit multiple neighborhoods in central Beirut, bringing down a multistory apartment building on Wednesday on a main thoroughfare and blasting out walls in others. The bombardment came after Hezbollah launched a barrage of dozens of missiles into Israel the previous night.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli troops are massing in preparation for a potential major ground invasion, while combat is already underway in some border areas.
Attempts by Lebanese officials to enter into direct negotiations with Israel to halt the fighting have been unsuccessful. Neither Hezbollah nor Israel appears to have any immediate desire to stop the war.
Israel hopes that this round will finally enable it to defang the threat on its northern border. Hezbollah sees it as an existential struggle. Whatever the outcome, the war will have farther-reaching consequences in Lebanon and throughout the region.

As Israel prepares to implement the ‘Gaza model’ in Lebanon, where is the international reaction?
(The Guardian) A red-flag alert has been issued by one genocide-prevention organisation. This is not the time for empty condemnations but sanctions and arms embargos
Israel faces stiff Hezbollah resistance as it attempts to push deeper into Lebanon
IDF engaged in intense fighting with militants in at least three key areas in battle for control of border towns
Israel strikes Iran’s South Pars gas field hours after forces kill intelligence minister
(The Guardian) … In Lebanon, Israel hit central Beirut, destroying apartment buildings in some of the most intense airstrikes on the Lebanese capital for decades. It also bombed two bridges over the Litani river, marking an expansion of attacks against civilian infrastructure in the south of the country. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said it blew up the bridges to prevent Hezbollah from transporting fighters towards the south of Lebanon, where they are engaged in intense clashes with Israeli soldiers.
The destruction of the two bridges, one of which led into the major city of Tyre and the other just south of the city of Nabatieh, further cut off the area south of the Litani river from the rest of the country. Israel has bombed two other bridges over the Litani, gas stations and major roads in the region in recent days, while issuing sweeping displacement orders for the area 25 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel’s announcement that it would soon bomb bridges triggered a renewed flight of residents from Tyre. Cars packed with families and with mattresses strapped to their roofs headed northwards as civil defence members directed people towards the last remaining bridge out of the city – the other already struck by Israel. The Lebanese army withdrew from their checkpoints on the bridges ahead of the strikes, wary of being caught in the blast.
Meanwhile Hezbollah continued to announce rocket launches at Israel and claimed it was holding strong against an advancing Israeli army in southern Lebanon. People wounded by Israeli strikes streamed into hospitals throughout the day. At least 968 people – including 116 children – had been killed and more than 2,432 people wounded by Israeli strikes over the last 16 days of fighting, the Lebanese ministry of health said. …
13 March
Destroy, displace, dismantle: Israel’s Gaza doctrine comes to Lebanon
The strategy that devastated Gaza is being replicated in Lebanon: Displace civilians, destroy infrastructure and fragment governance.
By Jonathan Whittall, Humanitarian leader and political analyst from South Africa.
(Al Jazeera Opinion) Israel has killed almost 600 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 750,000 in less than two weeks. This is the opening act of Israel’s Gaza doctrine applied to a new front. The formula is consistent: Displace – either by ordering people to leave or by destroying their means of survival. Demolish civilian infrastructure to prevent return and expand territory through so-called “buffer zones”. Fragment any coherent governance by carving territory into disconnected enclaves where military action continues at a lower intensity.
In both Gaza and southern Lebanon, Israel has treated civilian populations as indistinguishable from the resistance they support. Their displacement is the objective. The collapse of their political representation is a condition Israel seeks to make permanent. This is settler-colonial logic in contemporary military form.
The same playbook has now arrived in Lebanon, but with a revealing difference from previous Israeli operations here. In the first Lebanon war in the 1980s, Israel sought to install a sympathetic government. Gaza has shown that Israel has abandoned that aspiration. The goal is no longer to determine who governs a territory but to ensure that no coherent governance exists at all. …
Mass funeral reinforces Lebanese belief that the Israel-Hezbollah war primarily hurts civilians
(Globe & Mail) Simple wooden coffins filled a mosque in Sidon, the coastal Lebanese city about halfway between Beirut and the Israeli border, at noon Saturday for the funerals of 11 Palestinians killed in an Israeli air strike.
A single missile hit their four-storey apartment building not far from the mosque at 8:40 a.m. Friday, destroying the two upper floors and shattering the windows of the homes around it.
“Israel usually gives a few minutes warning before an attack, but there was no warning this time,” said Ali Wis, 26, a local firefighter and freelance journalist who knew some of the victims.
He and others at the funeral think Israel must have suspected that one or more of the men who were killed were members of Hezbollah, though they said no one in the community had any knowledge that they were.

12 March
Israel bombards Beirut suburbs and southern Lebanon as conflict with Hezbollah escalates
Hezbollah and Iran had launched joint attack on more than 50 targets including Israeli military bases
(The Guardian) Israeli warplanes bombarded Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon after Hezbollah launched drones and rockets at northern Israel on Wednesday night in a sharp escalation of the 10-day conflict.
Hezbollah let off successive volleys of rockets and drone swarms at Israel on Wednesday night, injuring two people, with most of the projectiles either being intercepted or falling into open areas.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said later that they had carried out some strikes with Hezbollah.

7 March
Israel renews assault on Lebanon after Netanyahu promises ‘many surprises’ in next phase of war
(AP) — Israel renewed its assault on southern Lebanon early Sunday, including targeting commanders of the Lebanese branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “many surprises” for the next phase of the conflict.
The Israeli military said in a statement that it would “not allow Iranian terrorist elements to establish themselves in Lebanese territory.”

6 March
Something New Is Happening in Lebanon
For the first time, the country’s government is directly confronting a weakened Hezbollah.
By Hussein Ibish
(The Atlantic) … After Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Israel initiated a devastating campaign that took out most of Hezbollah’s leadership. This seems to have emboldened the Lebanese government to finish the job by disarming the group. Even more important, the current U.S.-Iran conflict has helped solidify a consensus that Lebanon must no longer be dragged into catastrophic wars that have zero relevance to any of its national interests. …

2 March
Despite Its Weakness, Hezbollah Plunges Lebanon Back Into War
The militant group’s attacks, apparently at the behest of Iran, led to retaliation from Israel and were “practically a suicide mission” for Hezbollah, an analyst said.
(NYT) For more than a year, Israel has carried out near-daily airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon despite its fragile cease-fire with Hezbollah. And for more than a year, in a sharp departure from decades of hostility toward Israel, Hezbollah did not respond.
Until Monday.
Around 1 a.m., Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, fired rockets and sent a swarm of drones toward Israel in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It was a largely symbolic move that now threatens to drag Lebanon, still reeling from Hezbollah’s last war with Israel, into yet another.
Soon after, Israel unleashed a dizzying barrage of airstrikes across more than 50 villages in southern and eastern Lebanon, and pounded the southern edges of Beirut in blasts that thundered across the city.
Israel intensifies war on Lebanon after Hezbollah attack
Israel’s response to Hezbollah attack kills at least 52 people and leads to mass displacement in Lebanon.
(Al Jazeera) Overnight, Hezbollah responded to Israeli attacks for the first time in more than a year by firing a barrage of missiles and drones towards an Israeli military site in the northern city of Haifa.
Israel said it killed senior Hezbollah leaders in the attacks on southern Lebanon and Dahiyeh. It also delivered mass displacement notices to more than 50 towns and villages in southern and eastern Lebanon. The scenes of bumper-to-bumper cars fleeing the areas recalled the worst days of Israel’s war on Lebanon in 2023 and 2024.

1 March
Israel strikes Lebanon’s capital, responding to missiles from Hezbollah
Israel launched multiple strikes on Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired missiles across the border early Monday
(AP) The Israeli military said it intercepted a projectile that crossed the border, saying that several others fell in open areas. No injuries or damage were reported.
Hezbollah said in a statement that the strikes were carried out in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday by U.S. and Israeli strikes in a sudden and intensifying military operation against Iran.
It was the first time in more than a year that Hezbollah had claimed a strike against Israel.

23 February
[U.S.] State Department orders nonessential US diplomats to leave Lebanon as tensions with Iran soar
(AP) — The United States has ordered nonessential diplomats and their family members at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to leave Lebanon, the State Department said Monday, as tensions over Iran rise with the threat of a potentially imminent military strike.
The department said in an updated travel alert for U.S. citizens in Lebanon that it “ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of government personnel due to the security situation in Beirut.”
The alert…said U.S. personnel remaining in Lebanon would have their in-country travel restricted.
A department official said earlier that a continuous assessment of the regional security environment determined it was “prudent” to draw down the U.S. Embassy Beirut’s footprint so that only essential personnel remain at their posts.

2025

25 November
Pope Leo XIV’s visit rekindles hope in war- and crisis-battered Lebanon
The visit set to begin on Sunday comes as part of Pope Leo’s first official foreign trip and as the fulfillment of a promise made by his predecessor, Pope Francis, to visit Lebanon, a Muslim-majority country where about a third of the population is Christian. Leo will also visit Turkey.
The fourth visit of a pope to Lebanon, it sends a powerful message of support at a time when regional instability and deepening internal crises have left the country in a precarious situation.
Since 2019, Lebanon has been battered by political unrest, the collapse of its currency and banking system, the port explosion and, most recently, a war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group. The war decimated large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon, leaving more than 4,000 dead, including hundreds of civilians, and causing an estimated $11 billion worth of destruction.
At least 127 civilians killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since ceasefire, UN says
A year since deal agreed, UN calls for investigation into possible violations of international law by all parties
“We continue to witness increasing attacks by the Israeli military, resulting in the killing of civilians and destruction of civilian objects in Lebanon, coupled with alarming threats of a wider, intensified offensive,” said Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office, at a Geneva press briefing.
Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement, which sought to bring to an end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, by continuing its strikes and maintaining forces inside its territory.

22-23 November
Hezbollah chief of staff killed in Beirut airstrike, Israeli military says
Militant group confirms Haytham Ali Tabatabai was killed in attack that dramatically escalates tensions in the region
Israel targeted one of Hezbollah’s most senior military commanders in an airstrike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday, dramatically escalating tensions with the group almost exactly a year after a ceasefire ended 14 months of clashes.
The Israeli military said several hours after the attack that Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, was killed in the strike in Lebanese capital.
Tense calm in far north as Israel prepares to ‘finish the job’ against Hezbollah
On the border with Lebanon, communities have started to return and rebuild – even though some are in no hurry to return

2 November
Israel threatens to step up attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon
Israel’s defence minister accuses Beirut of delaying efforts to disarm militant group a day after deadly Israeli airstrike
Israel has threatened to step up its attacks against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, a day after the Lebanese health ministry reported that four people had been killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Despite the November 2024 ceasefire, Israel maintains troops in five areas in southern Lebanon and has kept up regular strikes.
The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, accused the Lebanese government of delaying efforts to dismantle Hezbollah.

13 August
Lebanon takes a first step toward reclaiming its sovereignty
by Edward Gabriel, opinion contributor
(The Hill) Last week, the Lebanese government made a historic move toward restoring full authority over its territory by committing to disarm all groups possessing heavy weapons — most notably Hezbollah.
For more than four decades, Hezbollah has wielded both military and political power in Lebanon, undermining the country’s independence and destabilizing the region. Now, for the first time in years, the Lebanese state is acting to assert its sovereignty and assert control nationwide — a move unimaginable just a year ago, when the militia’s grip on the country seemed unshakable.
The U.S. envoy to Syria and current U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, recently put forth, after several rounds of talks in Beirut, a multi-phase plan to end the military escalation that has persisted between Hezbollah and Israel since the November 2024 ceasefire was signed by Israel and Lebanon.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun recognized that without decisive action to support the U.S. proposal to dismantle Hezbollah’s arsenal once and for all, the Trump administration and its allies would reconsider future diplomatic and financial support to their war-torn, bankrupt nation. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who represents a large Shiite population in Lebanon, also acknowledged the importance of this pivotal moment when the government took its bold decision on Aug. 7 to fully disarm Hezbollah by the end of 2025.
Lebanon must now appreciate that it has the most to lose if implementation falters, and it cannot afford to fall short of its obligations under this agreement. Following through on its commitments will ensure the obligations of other countries involved — including Israel, the United States, France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This is a historic opportunity for Lebanon to break free from the grip of non-state militias and restore the state’s monopoly over arms. But success will depend on all parties honoring their commitments.Under the U.S. plan, Israel is to cease all ground, air and maritime military operations following the Lebanon government’s decree, ensuring that the government can begin implementing a disarmament plan. It is expected that within 120 days, all militias will be neutralized and Israeli forces withdrawn from Lebanese territory. The U.S., France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have, in turn, pledged to strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces’ ability to enforce the agreement and protect the country’s sovereignty, as well as to organize an international economic conference to spur Lebanon’s recovery and reconstruction.
6-7 August
Exclusive: US plan sees Hezbollah disarmed by year-end, Israeli withdrawal
Lebanese cabinet discusses detailed US proposal for Hezbollah disarmament by year-end
Proposal would halt Israeli military operations in Lebanon, secure Israeli withdrawal
Proposal sees economic conference for Lebanon in final phase
(Reuters) – … The United States has presented Lebanon with a proposal for disarming Hezbollah by the end of the year, along with ending Israel’s military operations in the country and the withdrawal of its troops from five positions in south Lebanon. … The U.S. proposal aims to “extend and stabilise” a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel brokered in November….
Hezbollah rejects Lebanese government’s plans to disarm the group
Hezbollah on Wednesday condemned the Lebanese government’s decision to restrict weapons to official state forces by year’s end, saying the plan serves Israeli and US interests. Hezbollah accused Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government of bowing to US demands and vowed to disregard the move.

4-5 August
The Port Explosion and the Escape from Accountability
By Nasser Kandil
The Beirut Port explosion, with its devastating national and humanitarian toll, deserves a transparent, scientific, and responsible investigation, one that uncovers the facts, identifies those responsible, and leads to charges that carry appropriate consequences. But what matters most is that this investigation must be freed from the temptation to win applause, whether from certain Lebanese factions seeking revenge against political rivals, or from foreign actors aiming to use the case to send political messages, target specific parties, or tighten pressure on others.
At the heart of the investigation lies a critical question: who was the true owner of the ammonium nitrate that arrived at the Port of Beirut, who allowed it in, and what role did the German naval forces play, those tasked with monitoring Lebanon’s ports to prevent the entry of military materials, including ammonium nitrate, explicitly listed as hazardous in the annexes to Resolution 1701? Why were portions of this cargo allowed to leak or remain in storage well beyond any logical time frame for a temporary shipment? And who, at the time of the blast, held positions of authority directly linked to the case

Beirut Port blast victims say five years later, justice feels a bit closer
The investigation was derailed by political interference, but a new government is trying to get justice back on track.
When 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded in Beirut’s port on August 4, 2020, it ripped through the city, killing more than 218 people.
Five years later, the investigation into who is at fault for the blast has been delayed, and at times derailed, by political interference.
As the fifth anniversary of the tragedy approaches, there is some optimism that the judicial investigation is finally moving in the right direction after facing obstacles, mostly from well-connected politicians refusing to answer questions and the former public prosecutor blocking the investigation.
A decision from the lead prosecutor is expected soon, activists and legal sources familiar with the matter told Al Jazeera. And while the road to justice is still long, for the first time, there is a feeling that momentum is building.

10 July
The Lebanese government wants Hezbollah to disarm – will it?
(GZERO media) On Wednesday, the Trump administration’s envoy to Lebanon, Tom Barrack, received a stunning proposal from the Lebanese government– a plan to disarm Hezbollah, the powerful Iran-backed Shia militia group that has dominated Lebanon’s politics and fought two major wars with Israel over the past 20 years. The process would occur over the next four months, in exchange for Israel halting strikes on Lebanon and withdrawing from the country’s South.
If Hezbollah were to drop its weapons it would redefine the Middle East virtually overnight. But can the Lebanese government really turn this proposal into reality?
On the one hand, Hezbollah has never been weaker. Over the past year and a half, Israel has decimated the group’s leadership and destroyed a great deal of its weapons. The collapse of the Assad regime, a key ally, upended a major smuggling route for weapons from Iran. And the regime in Tehran itself has been hobbled by the recent Israeli and American airstrikes.

23 June
Israel bombs southern Lebanon amid conflict with Iran and assault on Gaza
Israel has carried out near-daily violations of the November ceasefire that ended its 14-month war with Hezbollah.
(Al Jazeera) Monday’s airstrikes were reportedly more intense than the usual, near-daily, violations — that Israel has carried out — of the November 2024 ceasefire that ended its 14-month war with Hezbollah.
The Israeli military says it struck rocket launchers and an arms depot for Hezbollah, but provided no evidence of that.

28 March
Israel conducts first strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs since truce
Israel said it hit Hezbollah drone storage in Beirut suburb
Airstrike followed three smaller warning shots
Carried out after another rocket salvo into Israel
Panicky south Beirut residents flee on foot amid gridlock
November ceasefire deal fraying amid series of incidents
(Reuters) – Israel on Friday carried out its first major airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in months, retaliating for an earlier rocket launch from Lebanon in the most serious test of a shaky ceasefire deal agreed in November.
The strike targeted a building in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh, that Israel said was a drone storage facility belonging to the Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim militant group.

26-27 January
Israel kills at least 22 Lebanese while they attempt to return to their homes – video
Israeli forces have opened fire on protesters trying to reach their villages, killing at least 22 people, including a Lebanese soldier, and injuring 124, according to Lebanon’s ministry of health. Lebanese citizens gathered in Burj Al-Muluk near Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon and attempted to return to their homes, in defiance of the Israeli military which remained on the ground after a deadline for their withdrawal had passed.
White House says ceasefire agreement between Lebanon, Israel to continue until Feb. 18
(Reuters) – The U.S. said on Sunday that the agreement between Lebanon and Israel would remain in effect until Feb. 18, after Israel said on Friday it would keep troops in the south beyond the Sunday deadline set out in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted last year’s war with Hezbollah.
“The arrangement between Lebanon and Israel, monitored by the United States, will continue to be in effect until February 18, 2025,” the White House said in a statement.

9 January
Who is Joseph Aoun, the new president of Lebanon?
(AP) For the first time in two years, Lebanon has a president. It took two rounds of voting, but in the end, the country’s parliament tapped army chief Joseph Aoun.
Who is he? The 60-year-old career soldier has headed the army since 2017. He shrewdly kept his troops out of the recent and devastating 14-month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah, the country’s most powerful armed group.
Aoun is a Maronite Christian, a requirement for the presidency in the delicate power-sharing arrangement between Lebanon’s Christian, Sunni, and Shia communities.
Among the candidates vying for the job, Aoun enjoyed strong support from the US and from Saudi Arabia, two key external powerbrokers.
His selection suggests Hezbollah, badly weakened by the war with Israel and unable to win support for its own preferred candidate, has lost some of its clout.
Joseph Aoun, the former Lebanese army commander, is country’s 14th president after a two-year vacancy.
(Al Jazeera) The 61-year-old becomes Lebanon’s 14th president, having filled a presidential vacuum of more than two years left by his predecessor, Michel Aoun – who is not related to the new president.
Joseph Aoun’s appointment overcomes a major impasse; Lebanon’s parliament had met on 12 prior occasions to vote for a president but failed to elect one.
Aoun’s support in parliament came from a wide spectrum of political figures, and he eventually won 99 votes from the 128-seat parliament in the second round of voting.
But who is Joseph Aoun? And why did it take so long for the Lebanese parliament to agree that he was the right person to lead the country?

2024

22 December
Prominent Lebanese figure meets Syrian insurgent who led Assad’s ouster, seeking better relations
(AP) — A prominent Lebanese politician held talks on Sunday with the insurgent who led the overthrow of Syria’s President Bashar Assad, with both expressing hope for a new era in relations.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is the most important politician from Lebanon to visit Syria since the Assad family’s 54-year rule ended two weeks ago. Jumblatt was a longtime critic of Syria’s involvement in Lebanon and blamed Assad’s father, former leader Hafez Assad, for the assassination of his own father.
Ahmad al-Sharaa led the Sunni Islamist rebels who swept into Damascus this month. Now wearing a suit and tie, he has been meeting diplomats and others as Assad’s fall reshapes alliances and gives many long-stifled Syrians hope after more than 13 years of civil war and international sanctions.

Syria war to have ‘massive’ effect on Lebanon: US envoy Hochstein
The top Biden diplomat said a weakened Syrian government will make it difficult for Iran to transfer weapons to Hezbollah.
(Al Jazeera) The weakening of Syria’s government with the recent gains made by the opposition forces is going to have “massive implications” in neighbouring Lebanon, according to US envoy Amos Hochstein.
Speaking at the Doha Forum on Saturday, the diplomat said Iran would find it difficult to transfer weapons to the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah.
“I think what’s happened in Syria, which of course, happened the day after the ceasefire started, is now creating a new weakness for Hezbollah,” Hochstein said. “It’s going to make it very difficult for Iran, who’s pulling out of Syria, to some degree, being able to transfer weapons in.” …
“Lebanon has internalised the weakness of Hezbollah on the one hand, [and] on the other hand, [Hezbollah’s ability] to fight Israel or to support the Assad regime has … diminished,” said Hochstein.
Hochstein also hailed Lebanon’s shaky truce, nearly two weeks old, stating that Israel’s work to “completely” pull out of Lebanon is “a great indicator” of its success.

26-27 November
Israel-Hezbollah truce holds, displaced Lebanese begin to journey home
UN’s Guterres says ceasefire is ‘ray of hope’
Iran foreign minister hopes truce will become permanent
Israel tells Lebanese not to return to villages on the border
(Reuters) – A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah held on Wednesday under a deal brokered by the U.S. and France as people in both countries began returning to homes in the border area shattered by 14 months of fighting.
Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire comes into force with Biden insistent on ‘permanent cessation of hostilities’
Reports of cars heading south inside Lebanon despite Israeli army warning displaced residents not to return home immediately
A highly anticipated ceasefire aimed at ending the 14-month-old war between Israel and Hezbollah officially came into effect early on Wednesday morning, hours after Joe Biden hailed the “historic” moment.
The ceasefire officially began at 0200 GMT – 4am in Lebanon – after the heaviest day of raids on Beirut, including a series of strikes in the city’s centre, since Israel stepped up its air campaign in Lebanon in late September before sending in ground troops.
By 7am in Lebanon there were no immediate reports of alleged violations of the truce. Some celebratory gunshots could be heard in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Experts react: Israel and Lebanon have struck a ceasefire deal. Is the Israel-Hezbollah war really over?
By Atlantic Council experts
Piece by piece, they’re working toward peace. …[The ceasefire] comes nearly fourteen months after Hezbollah followed Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel with its own rocket strikes the next day. Since then, Israel has steadily weakened the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group, including by killing its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in September. Our experts share their insights on this ceasefire, which already faces questions about its durability, as well as its vulnerability to a maelstrom of other regional conflicts and antagonists, including Iran.
Israeli security cabinet approves Lebanon ceasefire deal, after 11th-hour strikes on central Beirut
(CNN) A ceasefire between Israeli forces and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah took effect Wednesday morning local time, according to a timeline laid out by US President Joe Biden, after Israel and Lebanon agreed a deal to end the more than year-long conflict.
Speaking earlier in the White House Rose Garden, Biden said the deal “is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” He said he had spoken with the leaders of Israel and Lebanon, and that both countries accepted the US proposal “to end the devastating conflict” between Israel and Hezbollah.
The Israeli security cabinet voted on Tuesday to approve the deal by a majority of 10 to one, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said, thanking the United States for its involvement.
A Few Thoughts on the Lebanon Ceasefire Deal
This is a good thing
(Global Dispatches) From the White House this afternoon, President Biden announced a ceasefire deal in Lebanon, which will … Under the terms of the deal, Israel will eventually withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon and cease its bombardment of the country. Hezbollah, in turn, will withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon and halt its rocket attacks into Israel proper.
This ceasefire is undoubtedly a positive development.
In the longer term, this ceasefire offers a chance to de-escalate after over a year of continuous tensions: between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel and Iran, Israel and the Houthis, and between the U.S. and Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria.
The significant fear that fighting between Israel and Hezbollah might lead to direct conflict between Iran and Israel was realized in recent months. Israel and Iran have directly targeted each other in unprecedented ways. The escalatory trajectory suggested the potential for more such attacks, even an all-out war that could draw in the United States. For now, this peace agreement appears to provide an off-ramp to that very dangerous outcome. Again, this is undeniably a good development.
Israel approves proposed ceasefire with Lebanon’s Hezbollah
(AP) — Israel approved a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting linked to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
In the hours leading up to the Cabinet meeting, Israel carried out its most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs and issued a record number of evacuation warnings. At least 24 people were killed in strikes across the country, according to local authorities, as Israel signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah in the final hours before any ceasefire takes hold.
Israel’s security Cabinet approved the ceasefire agreement late Tuesday after it was presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his office said. U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking in Washington, called the agreement “good news” and said his administration would make a renewed push for a ceasefire in Gaza.
An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza.

17 November
Israeli strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah media chief Mohammed Afif
Attack came without warning on day dozens killed in airstrikes in Gaza and Israel struck other targets in Lebanon
Hezbollah’s chief spokesman has been killed by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, as Israel intensifies its air offensive in Lebanon despite ongoing indirect negotiations for a ceasefire.
Mohammed Afif, who has been the public face of Hezbollah for months, was killed in a strike on offices of the Ba’ath party in Ras al-Nabaa, central Beirut. The attack in the busy residential area came without warning, and appeared to damage to neighbouring buildings.
The son of a prominent Shia cleric, Afif managed the Hezbollah-run TV network Al Manar before taking over as head of the militant Islamist group’s media relations. Since the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the longtime leader of Hezbollah, on 28 September, Afif became one of the group’s most prominent officials, holding several press conferences in Beirut.

14-15 November
Iran backs Lebanon in ceasefire talks, seeks end to ‘problems’
Iranian official, on Beirut visit, wants ‘solution’
Israeli steps up bombardment amid signs of ceasefire momentum
Shell hits UNIFIL headquarters, doesn’t explode
French peacekeeper dies in road accident
Diplomat assesses more time needed for truce but hopeful of one
(Reuters) – Iran backs any decision taken by Lebanon in talks to secure a ceasefire with Israel, a senior Iranian official said on Friday, signalling Tehran wants to see an end to a conflict that has dealt heavy blows to its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.
Lebanese ceasefire efforts inch ahead as Israel keeps up fierce bombardment
US delivers draft truce proposal to Lebanon, sources say
Israeli demand of freedom of action is a sticking point
Lebanese officials say Hezbollah would withdraw from border
Israel bombs Hezbollah-controlled suburbs for 3rd day
(Reuters) – Diplomacy aimed at securing a ceasefire in Lebanon showed tentative signs of progress on Thursday as Israel pounded its northern neighbour including heavy airstrikes on the stronghold of armed group Hezbollah near Beirut.
Pressing its offensive against the Iran-backed group, Israel hit Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, carrying out intense attacks there for a third consecutive day.

13 November
Israel wants freedom to strike Lebanon even after ceasefire, France says
(Reuters) – Israeli officials are insisting on maintaining a capacity to strike Lebanon at any moment as part of conditions to secure a ceasefire with Iran-backed Hezbollah, France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Speaking to a parliamentary hearing after holding talks in Israel last week in Jerusalem, Jean-Noel Barrot said it was a condition increasingly voiced among Israeli officials.
“Today we hear in Israel voices calling for it to keep a capacity to strike at any moment or even enter Lebanon, as is the case with its neighbour Syria,” said Barrot, who held talks with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and new Defence Minister Israel Katz last week.
France, which has historical ties with Lebanon, has sought to play a role in trying to secure a ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country.
It has worked with the United States to try to implement a temporary ceasefire, but those talks stalled at the end of September.
Coordination between Paris and the outgoing U.S. administration to get a ceasefire has been more complicated since, with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein focused on his own proposals.

12 November
Cattle, crops and ancient olive groves: Lebanon’s farmers ‘lose everything’ to Israeli bombs
Thousands of hectares of fertile land, including olive trees that have survived for millennia, have been destroyed in the country’s agricultural heartland

6 November
Lebanon files complaint against Israel at UN labour body over pager attacks
Labour Minister Mustafa Bayram says 4,000 civilians were killed or wounded in the September attacks.
(Al Jazeera) Lebanese Labour Minister Mustafa Bayram filed the formal complaint at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he said the attack was an “egregious war against humanity, against technology, against work”.

4 November
Israel claims to have killed another senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon
(The Guardian) Israel’s military has issued a statement in which it claims to have killed “a commander in the Hezbollah Radwan force’s anti-tank missile system.”
Naming him as Riad Rida Ghazzawi, the IDF claimed he “planned and executed a significant amount of terrorist attacks, including firing anti-tank missiles at Israeli civilians and at IDF troops operating in southern Lebanon.”
Lebanese authorities have reported over 2,800 dead in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in the past month.

2 November
Israel’s Peace Talks in Gaza and Lebanon: What to Know
Complex negotiations involving several players are proceeding on two separate but related tracks.
(NYT) Cease-fire talks are underway to resolve two related conflicts in the Middle East that have killed tens of thousands of people and threaten to spiral into a wider regional war.
On Thursday, top U.S. officials held talks in Egypt and Israel in an attempt end the conflicts between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Envoys from Israel, Egypt, the United States and Qatar also met in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Oct. 28.

18 October
Suspicion, resentment, trauma, destruction – Beirut on the edge
An Al Jazeera cameraman describes his crew’s attempts to report from Beirut, navigating the fear and anger palpable on the bombed-out streets.
No phones!” barks a burly man as he sails past us on his scooter. I’m out in the city working with Al Jazeera’s correspondent, Ali Hashem. His friend and fellow journalist who is with us, has just taken a picture of a beautiful old building, nestled among the usual shopfronts and apartments in a busy street in Basta, central Beirut.
Although the man is clearly a civilian – not an official of any sort – we are quick to heed his order. Our friend apologises and puts his phone away, but the angry man has already turned the scooter around and is approaching, demanding to see the phone and the offending picture.