Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, has warned that if Hezbollah is not disarmed, there will be “no calm in Beirut” and “no order or stability in Lebanon” unless Israel’s security is assured.
In a statement released on Friday, the Israeli minister said, “Agreements must be honored, and if you do not do what is required, we will continue to act, and with great force.”
On Thursday night, Israel’s military launched a string of strikes against Beirut’s southern suburbs, prompting a large flurry of residents to flee their homes on the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. They were then forced to comply with a forced evacuation order.
Israel claimed that its most recent attack targeted Hezbollah “drone factories” in the Lebanese capital without providing any supporting proof.
In “blatant violation” of the terms of the ceasefire, the Israeli military claimed that Hezbollah and Israel were “operating to increase production of UAVs [drones] for the next war.”
Israeli fighter jets carried out about a dozen strikes in the attack, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. A Hezbollah statement claimed that dozens of buildings had been damaged while nine buildings had already been destroyed following a preliminary assessment.
Hezbollah denied that the locations targeted by the drone production facilities were there.
Since the ceasefire ended on November 27, Israel has launched its fourth, and fourth, heaviest attack against Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Hezbollah controls.
Late in April, Israel launched its most recent attack on the Lebanese capital, claiming to destroy “infrastructure where precision missiles” were being kept by Hezbollah.
Flagrant violation of a global agreement
According to the Lebanese government under President Joseph Aoun, Arab nations, and human rights organizations, Israel has violated the ceasefire almost daily throughout Lebanon.
Aoun has urged the United States and France to halt Israel’s attacks, both of which were guaranteeers of the November ceasefire.
Aoun criticized the Israeli aggression in a statement released late on Thursday, calling the attacks a “flagrant violation of an international agreement” on the eve of a holy religious festival.
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar urged “all Lebanese political forces to put their condemnations into concrete actions,” including diplomatic pressure, on Friday.
At least 190 people have been killed and nearly 500 have been injured in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to the Lebanese government’s April statement.
Hezbollah, a political party and paramilitary group once thought to be more heavily armed than the state, has been given the Lebanese military as a result of the ceasefire agreement.
However, the army of Lebanon issued a warning about how the attacks are weakened by the ceasefire. In order to stop an air strike, Israel also objected to its request to inspect the alleged drone production sites in southern Beirut.
The Israeli military’s role is being diminished by the Israeli government’s repeated violations of the agreement and its refusal to respond to the committee, according to a statement from the military.
Furthering Israeli attacks, the army might decide to freeze cooperation with the monitoring committee when “when it comes to searching posts” and destroying Hezbollah infrastructure close to the Israeli border in southern Lebanon.
In response to Israel’s occupation of Gaza in October 2023, the Lebanese organization launched cross-border attacks against northern Israel in solidarity with Hamas. This renewed the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Source: Aljazeera
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