\n<\/p>\n
Beirut, Lebanon \u2013<\/strong> Fears are rife in Lebanon over another Israeli military escalation, similar to the one in 2024 that killed more than 4,000 people and displaced around a quarter of the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n The intensification comes amid growing pressure by the United States and Israel on Lebanon to ensure the Shia group Hezbollah disarms. The decision to bring Hezbollah\u2019s weapons under state control is popular in Lebanon outside of the group\u2019s traditional support base. But analysts also fear internal tensions could lead to violence if Israel continues to attack the country without impunity and disarmament is pushed through by force.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Tensions are also growing after a meeting in Florida between US President Donald Trump and Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on December 29, when the latter was reportedly given a green light to begin a new offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.<\/p>\n Despite an ongoing ceasefire since November 2024, Israel has attacked Lebanon almost daily. Tens of thousands of Lebanese are still displaced from their homes along Lebanon\u2019s southern border.<\/p>\n And now the fear is that military action will ramp up. On Sunday alone, Israel launched around 25 attacks on south Lebanon, leaving many in the country worried about further widespread attacks. The United Nations says Israel has violated the ceasefire more than 10,000 times since November 2024.<\/p>\n Almost a year into the conflict that began in October 2023, Israel escalated its war on Lebanon, launching a devastating series of strikes between September and November 2024.<\/p>\n Every region in Lebanon was hit by some kind of Israeli attack, including air strikes or drone strikes. However, the areas primarily targeted, the south, eastern Lebanon\u2019s Bekaa Valley, and Beirut\u2019s southern suburbs (known as Dahiyeh), are predominantly inhabited by Shia Muslims, the sect from which Hezbollah derives the majority of its domestic support.<\/p>\n Among the dead in the attacks was the long-time leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah.<\/p>\n Then in October, Israeli troops invaded south Lebanon and fought Hezbollah on Lebanese territory. When the ceasefire was agreed in November, Israel was supposed to withdraw all its troops from Lebanese territory within two months.<\/p>\n For its part, Hezbollah was to retreat to north of the Litani River and the Lebanese Army would deploy to south Lebanon.<\/p>\n Attacks from both sides would also cease.<\/p>\n In the last year, however, Israel has continued to attack Lebanon almost daily. Hezbollah has largely avoided responding militarily, and the Lebanese Army has also dismantled Hezbollah\u2019s infrastructure in south Lebanon, according to Lebanese government and military officials.<\/p>\n Israel withdrew most of its troops, but kept hold of five areas inside Lebanon, under the guise of ensuring its security.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t only trust international guarantees or borders. You have to be wherever there is danger. This is the main lesson from October 7,\u201d Amit Segal, an Israeli journalist who is familiar with Israel\u2019s Netanyahu administration, told the New York Times in October, referring to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in 2023.<\/p>\n On January 8, the Lebanese Army announced it had completed its mission of disarming Hezbollah south of the Litani.<\/p>\n But Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry doesn\u2019t agree, saying \u201cextensive Hezbollah military infrastructure still exists south of the Litani River\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHezbollah is rearming faster than it is being disarmed,\u201d it said, accusing the Lebanese Army of collaborating with Hezbollah, without providing evidence.<\/p>\n Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Diodato Abagnara said there was no sign of Hezbollah regrouping in the south, and analysts told Al Jazeera late last year that the group was weakened to the point that it could not threaten Israel.<\/p>\n Regardless of the evidence put forward by Lebanese or UN officials, Israel doesn\u2019t seem to be convinced. Analysts believe that Israel can only be stopped from attacking by one power: the United States.<\/p>\n Trump restrained Israel from a follow-up attack on Iran last July. But the US president has largely emboldened Netanyahu to continue his militaristic agenda in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Following the Florida meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, Arab and Israeli media suggested that the Israeli prime minister had received a green light from the US president to go after Hezbollah and intensify attacks in Lebanon again.<\/p>\n \u201cHezbollah must be completely disarmed,\u201d Trump is alleged to have said, according to the Jerusalem Post.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Lebanese Army doesn\u2019t succeed in disarming them, and Israel believes an action is the necessary thing to do [then the US backs Israel].\u201d<\/p>\n Residents in south Lebanon have gotten used to the attacks, but aren\u2019t sure what to expect next.<\/p>\n \u201cThe situation is calm,\u201d a local named Hussein Salman told Al Jazeera, adding without any sense of irony, \u201cOne day there\u2019s an attack, another there isn\u2019t. It\u2019s calm\u201d.<\/p>\n Kamel Jaber, a journalist from the southern town of Nabatieh, told Al Jazeera that the situation remained tense.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes several days pass with nothing happening,\u201d Jaber said. \u201cSometimes a single day passes, and the Israelis, through their warplanes, carry out a series of fire attacks or a series of successive raids on specific locations.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes they say they have eliminated Hezbollah\u2019s missile capabilities, and then a little while later they escalate their attacks on the Lebanese state, claiming that Hezbollah\u2019s weapons are still present and active,\u201d Jaber said.<\/p>\n Many in Lebanon are now convinced that what happens next will depend on Israel\u2019s agreements and calculations with the US, rather than anything the Lebanese government does.<\/p>\n And for many in the south \u2013 including Ali Attieh, the head of a farmers\u2019 cooperative in the village of Kfar Hamam \u2013 the reason is simple.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael wants to wage war,\u201d Attieh said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Beirut, Lebanon \u2013 Fears are rife in Lebanon over another Israeli military escalation, similar to the one in 2024 that killed more than 4,000 people and displaced around a quarter of the country\u2019s population. The intensification comes amid growing pressure by the United States and Israel on Lebanon to ensure the Shia group Hezbollah disarms. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Continued violations<\/h2>\n
Trump\u2019s threats<\/h2>\n
Bombing reconstruction<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"