Tag: lebanon

‘Near Daily’ Israeli Assaults on Lebanon Have Become Non-News for Western Media

The Israeli military unleashed a large wave of air strikes on densely populated towns in South Lebanon on Thursday, September 18—although you’d never know it from the Western corporate media, who have increasingly lost interest in reporting on Israel’s unceasing war on its northern neighbor. This proceeds unabated in spite of a ceasefire, brokered by the United States and France, that ostensibly took hold last November. Prior to Thursday’s strikes, area residents were given an hour to evacuate.

The BBC (9/18/25) was one of the few corporate outlets that managed to find a bit of space for these events, under the headline, “Israeli Air Strikes Hit Southern Lebanon.” The outlet noted that

an Israeli military spokesman said the targets were infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and in response to the group’s attempts to re-establish activities in the area. He provided no evidence.

The piece also explained that Israel “has carried out air strikes on people and places it says are linked to Hezbollah almost every day, despite a deal that ended the war with the group in November.”

Reuters (9/18/25) managed an even shorter writeup—and took Israel’s word for it in the headline: “Israel Attacks Hezbollah Targets in South Lebanon.”

No casualties were reported in these particular attacks, but the fiery spectacle naturally sent a whole lot of people fleeing in terrorized panic. The fact that such terrorism by the state of Israel transpires “almost every day” is perhaps part of the reason the media have largely relegated it to the realm of non-news.

Another part of the reason might be that outlets are too busy serving as apologists (FAIR.org, 4/11/25, 4/25/25, 6/6/25) for the ongoing US-backed genocide in the nearby Gaza Strip, which Israel launched in October 2023, and which has thus far officially killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, including 20,000 children—although this is likely a grave underestimate.

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The Gaza War Isn’t Over, But Israel Has Already Lost

The Israeli regime has lost its multi-front war in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. Yes, really. It may not look like it, but the defeat is real and  baked into Israel’s future.

Let me first make the case for Israeli “victory”:

Since its 2023 invasion of Gaza, the Israeli Defence Forces report fewer than 800 troops killed, while in turn killing tens — maybe hundreds — of thousands of mostly civilian Palestinian Arabs (and 250 or more inconvenient journalists).

Since the beginning. They’ve established their ability to attack any point in Gaza at will, driving a displaced, hungry population back and forth over piles of bodies, while seizing more land in the West Bank and Syria, liquidating Hezbollah’s Lebanese strongholds, trading missile strikes with Yemen’s Houthis, and even emerging relatively unscathed, if not particularly successful, in an intermittent war with Iran.

Top Israeli regime officials confidently assert that the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and annexation of the West Bank are inevitable.

Yes, that sounds rather like multiple “victories,” accomplished and pending.

But those victories didn’t come from nowhere. They were enabled by decades of massive financial, military, and diplomatic support from the United States.

Yes, other regimes too, but most of those “allies” are moving in the other direction already — cutting off arms sales, recognizing a Palestinian state, and sanctioning Israeli war criminals.

It’s quickly coming down to the “no daylight between us” US/Israel relationship under which the former annually shovels billions of dollars, and when requested direct military assistance, at the latter, no questions asked (US law “guarantees” Israel a “Qualitative Military Edge”), while using its own sanctions power and veto on the UN Security Council to protect Benjamin Netanyahu and Friends from the consequences of their actions.

That relationship is nearing its end.

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‘Trump Zone’ Would See Southern Lebanon Occupied, Depopulated

The more information we get about the “Trump economic zone” proposal in southern Lebanon, the worse it seems for the people who live there. The latest reports reveal the plan to totally depopulate the south of the country, to place the whole area under US military control, and to grant Israel to right to build “permanent” bases in what are currently Lebanese towns and villages.

The plan first appeared a little over a week ago, with the US presenting it as their proposal while Israel maintains they came up with the idea. The broad strokes are that it is meant to replace border villages with Lebanese government-run industrial zones.

But the plan would involve no less than 27 villages being depopulated, spanning the Israel-Lebanon border from Naqoura to Marjayoun. Among those, Israel is demanding it be granted permission to construct permanent military sites within 14 of the former villages.

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US-Israeli scheme for Lebanon includes forced displacement, turning Beirut suburb into ‘refugee camp’: Report

There is a new US plan for a “clampdown” on Beirut’s southern suburb, which could potentially see the area come under the control of a foreign or Arab security force, according to a report released by Al-Akhbar newspaper on 27 August. 

The southern suburb, a strong base of support for Hezbollah, was heavily bombarded by Israel during its brutal war on Lebanon last year. The suburb has been repeatedly hit by airstrikes since the ceasefire took effect. 

According to Al-Akhbar, the plan aims to “treat the southern suburbs just like Palestinian refugee camps.”

The 1969 Cairo Agreement for years allowed Palestinian groups a degree of autonomy over refugee camps in Lebanon. Despite the agreement being declared null in the 1980s, the status of the camps has remained more or less the same. 

However, Lebanese troops maintain checkpoints and a heavy presence around the camps. Palestinian camps in Lebanon have recently begun a symbolic disarmament process in line with the state’s efforts to monopolize control of weapons in the country. 

The Al-Akhbar report frames the new US plan as part of Washington’s broader goal of disarming Hezbollah, which the Lebanese government vowed to achieve in a cabinet session in early August. 

“The US proposal envisions checkpoints at all entrances [of the Beirut suburb], thorough searches of individuals and vehicles, and a tight control on goods, materials, and money flows. This mission would not be handed to the Lebanese army. Instead, the plan calls for a foreign security force, possibly an Arab one, to take on the task,” it said. 

Al-Akhbar also said the plan falls in line with US efforts to “empty the southern border region.”

A recent report by Axios said there is a US plan for a “Trump economic zone” near the southern border, aimed at preventing Hezbollah from re-establishing its presence there. The report said this would happen with the help of Gulf financing. 

During a press conference in Lebanon’s Presidential Palace on Tuesday, US envoy Tom Barrack confirmed plans for the economic zone. 

“We have to have money coming into the system. The money will come from the Gulf. Qatar and Saudi Arabia are partners and are willing to do that for the south (of Lebanon) if we’re asking a portion of the Lebanese community to give up their livelihood,” Barrack said. 

“We have 40,000 people that are being paid by Iran to fight. What are you gonna do with them? Take their weapon and say ‘by the way, good luck planting olive trees?’ It can’t happen. We have to help them,” he added, referring to Hezbollah members.

“We, all of us, the Gulf, the US, the Lebanese are all gonna act together to create an economic forum that is gonna produce a livelihood,” he went on to say.

This economic zone reportedly serves as an ethnic cleansing plan to remove residents of the southern border villages and prevent the return of those already displaced from there. 

Lebanese MP and former head of Lebanon’s General Security Directorate Jamil al-Sayyed said in a post last week that “Envoy Tom Barrack has received the Israeli response to his mediation over the south.”

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Report: Syria Talks With Israel Involve Seizing North Lebanon

Israeli media began reporting new specificities about the Syria-Israel peace talks that have been ongoing for awhile, and incredibly they seem to suggest that the deal is centering around discussions of carving off parts of Lebanon to give to Syria’s Islamist government.

The normalization was centering heavily around the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights. Israel invaded and occupied parts of Golan in 1967, and invaded further parts of Golan in December after the ouster of the Assad government. The new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government has argued that public opinion obliges them to try to get the Golan back.

Or at least part of the Golan. Israeli media are suggesting that a compromise under discussion would see Israel return one third of the Golan to Syria, at least nominally, though potentially with Israel being allowed to continuing leasing it, and then compensating Syria with parts of Lebanon.

The HTS is reportedly keen to seize Tripoli, historically Tripoli of the Levant to distinguish it from the one in Libya, arguing it is a Sunni majority city and was separated from Syria proper during the French mandate. They also reportedly want the Bekaa Valley.

This seems like it would be a non-starter for Lebanon, of course, but there is no indication they’re even involved in the discussion. This gives this talk the appearance of Israel and Syria discussing how to carve up their smaller neighbor.

Tripoli is Lebanon’s second largest city, and over 8% of the city’s population is Alawites. That’s another potential problem with Syria annexing the city, because there have been on-again, off-again massacres of Alawites in northwest Syria, resulting in over ten thousand fleeing into northern Lebanon and the Tripoli area. Now, it seems, the city they fled is also up for grabs.

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Israel Pummels South Lebanon In Biggest Airstrikes Since November Hezbollah Ceasefire

In an dangerous sign that hostilities involving Iran and Israel could quickly ratchet again, Israel on Friday is pounding southern Lebanon, where Iran-backed Hezbollah is entrenched, in the biggest escalation there since a November ceasefire was agreed to.

Massive plumes of smoke have been observed over the region, with Lebanon’s official National News Agency reporting that a residential building in Nabatieh was directly struck, resulting in the death of at least one person and the wounding of 21 more.

Local media further says there over twenty strikes in only under 15-minutes, making it the most intense attack in well over six months.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed what it said were airstrikes targeting a “significant underground project” used by Hezbollah. The statement touted that the site was “completely taken out of use” following the strikes,

But questions remain as the IDF said that it targeted a Hezbollah site identified as Beaufort Ridge, which actually lies some five miles from Nabatieh.

“In recent days, the IDF identified attempts by the Hezbollah terror organization to restore the site, and therefore the terror infrastructure in the area was struck,” the Israeli military said.

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Israeli Drone Strike Killed South Lebanon Municipal Worker Fixing Water Well

Israel continues to carry out its daily airstrikes against southern Lebanon, and continues to claim they’re killing Hezbollah figures despite evidence to the contrary. Thursday, the deadly drone strike came against the town of Nabatieh al-Fawqa.

The strike hit a forest on the town’s periphery, killing one person who Israel described as a “Hezbollah terrorist” and was working on restoring some sort of Hezbollah site involved in firing on Israeli territory. That’s the official Israeli story at least, and as usual, they provided no evidence to confirm it.

Mayor Zein Ali Ghandour was quick to offer a correction, however. Ghandour reported that the man killed was Mahmoud Hasan Atwi, a municipal employee, and that he was in the forest to work on a water well in the area.

This is just the latest of several thousand Israeli ceasefire violations since the truce went into effect in November. Those strikes have killed over 200 people, most of whom have never been conclusively identified.

The IDF though, when it comments at all on who they killed, virtually always declares the slain to be Hezbollah commander of some sort or another, and declares their very existence to be a violation of the ceasefire.

Since the ceasefire, Hezbollah has not launched a single strike on Israel. The group has handed over functionally all of its sites south of the Litani River to the Lebanese Army, and the Lebanese government reported some 80% of those sites have already been dismantled.

It’s difficult to say Lebanon will ever destroy all those sites to Israeli satisfaction, however, because every time a Lebanese government bulldozer is clearing a farmer’s field, Israel declares it to be the revitalization of a Hezbollah infrastructure and attacks the bulldozer.

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UN Peacekeepers Post Hit by Direct Fire From Israeli Troops in southern Lebanon

UNIFIL peacekeepers continue to struggle with active Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon, issuing a statement today expressing concern about Israel’s increasingly aggressive military posture. One of the peacekeepers’ outposts near Kfar Chouba came under direct fire from Israeli troops across the border.

The fire was the first direct fire by Israeli troops against an UNIFIL post since the ceasefire went into effect in November. The post was hit, but officials said the peacekeepers are all safe after the incident.

Israel repeatedly targeted UNIFIL sites during the war in 2024, often damaging or destroying property. Shortly before the ceasefire went into effect in late November, an Israeli drone attacked a bus carrying UNIFIL peacekeepers, injuring six of them.

There have been incidents of UNIFIL patrols being targeted by Israeli forces since the ceasefire went into effect. French UNIFIL personnel found Israeli spy devices near the border village of Rmieh, and Israeli troops shot at them to drive them away, though no peacekeepers were actually hit and injured in that incident.

Yesterday, an Irish UNIFIL patrol operating near Maroun al-Ras reported being targeted by laser sights by nearby Israeli troops. No shots were fired, but the UNIFIL said such targeting was “unwelcome.”

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Dozens of Israeli raids hit Nabatieh region in south Lebanon in major escalation

Israeli warplanes carried out a wide-scale air attack on the Nabatieh region in southern Lebanon on the morning of 8 May, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported. The violent raids came in two waves, targeting valleys, heights, and forests extending between the towns of Kfar Tibnit, Nabatieh al-Fawqa, and Kfar Reman.

Most of the raids focused on the Ali al-Taher extraction site and the former archaeological site. 

The Israeli military said in a statement that it targeted an “infrastructure site” used by Hezbollah that included “terrorists, weapons, and tunnel shafts.” 

The sound of huge explosions caused by the strikes echoed in most areas of Nabatieh and the south, sparking “an atmosphere of terror and panic among citizens, most of whom rushed to schools to evacuate their students,” NNA wrote.

The panic caused traffic jams on the roads, while dozens of ambulances were seen heading towards the vicinity of the targeted areas. Most official government departments also closed their doors.

While Israel regularly bombs southern Lebanon despite signing a ceasefire with the country reached on 27 November of last year, Thursday’s attacks were an “unusually high number.” The Times of Israel noted.

Late last month, Israel conducted an airstrike on a residential neighborhood of Dahiye in the southern suburbs of Beirut. 

Videos showed three bombs hitting a building. Rescue crews worked to put out fires after the blast. The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning before the bombing, prompting panic as residents fled the area.

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Lebanon PM Warns of Risk of ‘New War’ as Israeli Airstrikes Pound Southern Lebanon

The 2024 Israel War in Lebanon never really completely ended, the invasion was somewhat stopped by a ceasefire, though near daily Israeli attacks continued throughout that ceasefires. With strikes escalating Friday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam is warning that a “new war” may be brewing.

The attacks targeting southern Lebanon are more intense Friday than what is normally seen, with Israel reporting they are targeting Hezbollah after rocket fire against the Israeli border village of Metula. This is the first rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel since the ceasefire went into effect.

Israel’s attacks included dozens of airstrikes, and at least two people were killed, one of them a child, and eight others wounded. Lebanese President Aoun warned the attacks were a sign of a deterioration in the security situation in the south.

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