The ceasefire in Lebanon appears to be collapsing as Israel and Hezbollah are escalating attacks.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF to “vigorously attack Hezbollah targets” in Lebanon. The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel started after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
In November 2024, Hezbollah and Israel agreed to a ceasefire. However, Israel repeatedly violated the truce while Hezbollah refrained from attacking Israel or IDF troops occupying southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah broke the truce following the US and Israel starting an aggressive war with Iran in February. Once the war in Lebanon escalated, top Israeli officials revealed plans to turn southern Lebanon into a buffer zone and expel the civilian population.
Earlier this month, Pakistan brokered a ceasefire between Iran and the US that was intended to cover all warring parties, including Israel and Lebanon. Initially, Tel Aviv and Washington claimed that the truce did not extend to Lebanon. Following talks between the Israeli and Lebanese governments in Washington, a ten-day ceasefire in Lebanon was imposed.
Tel Aviv never fully implemented the truce as the IDF continued the process of destroying Lebanese villages. In recent days, Hezbollah has conducted several attacks on Israeli forces, claiming to be responding to IDF ceasefire violations.
On Sunday, Netanyahu claimed Hezbollah is “eroding the cease-fire.” The Lebanese group said its actions were a “legitimate response to the enemy’s persistent violations of the cease-fire since the first day of the temporary truce.”
The head of the Iranian Qods Force said Tehran would continue to provide support to Hezbollah. “History bears witness that the Zionist regime has not ended any war in recent decades by achieving its objectives. The defeat in southern Lebanon is a continuation of this same historical fate,” Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, said.
