Lebanon

Former US diplomat Nabeel Khoury says Israel’s latest attack on southern Lebanon follows the same flawed logic and pattern as its assault on Gaza.

Video shows Israeli drones launching intense airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Thursday. At least one person was killed in the town of Toura. Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah sites despite a ceasefire agreed to with the group last year.

Israeli forces have carried out air strikes on the areas of Mahmoudiyeh and Jarmak, in southern Lebanon. The strikes are the latest in near-daily Israeli violations of the US-brokered ceasefire involving Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that began in November.

Lebanon’s military is urgently working to meet a year-end deadline to disarm Hezbollah in southern Lebanon under a ceasefire deal with Israel. The operation marks a dramatic shift in Lebanon’s internal power dynamics, as the army takes on a role that would have been unthinkable during Hezbollah’s peak influence.

Two sources told Reuters that the army has blown up so many Hezbollah weapons caches that it has run out of explosives, forcing troops to seal off sites instead of destroying them until new U.S. supplies arrive.

Why It Matters

This campaign could redefine Lebanon’s sovereignty and reshape the balance between state and militia power. Hezbollah’s disarmament is a key demand from Washington and Israel, and its success could bring stability or trigger fresh unrest.
However, moving beyond the south risks sectarian tensions and could fracture the army, reviving memories of Lebanon’s civil war.

Lebanese Army: Leading disarmament under U.S. and international pressure, but facing shortages of explosives and political risks.

Hezbollah: Weakened by Israel’s war last year but still influential, especially in the north and Bekaa Valley, where disarmament remains uncertain.

United States: Providing millions in aid and demolition equipment to “degrade Hezbollah.”

Israel: Supplying intelligence through the truce mechanism but complicating operations with cross-border fire incidents.

UNIFIL: Supporting inspection and clearance operations in southern Lebanon.

Current Progress

Nine arms caches and dozens of tunnels have been uncovered in the south.

The army expects to complete southern operations by December.

Explosives depleted by June, with six soldiers killed during dismantling efforts.

$14 million in new U.S. demolition aid is expected, though delivery may take months.

Challenges Ahead

Hezbollah has agreed to ceasefire terms in the south but refuses to disarm elsewhere without a political deal.

Lebanese officials fear civil strife if the army expands disarmament north without consensus.

Israeli air strikes and occupation of five border hilltops threaten to delay progress.

What’s Next

The U.S. and allies are pressing Beirut to meet the year-end target and expand efforts beyond the south in 2026. But Hezbollah’s warning against confronting the Shi’ite community, and ongoing Israeli pressure, mean Lebanon’s army must walk a political and military tightrope.

As one Lebanese official put it: “The army if betting on time.”

With information from Reuters.

UN spokesman says incident involved a drone dropping a grenade near a patrol, and a tank opening fire on peacekeepers.

The United Nations and France have condemned an Israeli attack that hit UN peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday that the previous day’s attack on UNIFIL troops, which he said involved an Israeli drone dropping a grenade in the vicinity of a patrol, as well as a tank opening fire on peacekeepers near the border town of Kfar Kila, was “very, very dangerous”.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) works with the Lebanese army to enforce a ceasefire struck last year between Israel and the Lebanese armed groupd Hezbollah. Israel has violated the truce on a near-daily basis.

France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs also condemned “the Israeli fire that targeted a UNIFIL detachment” and noted that the incidents followed similar attacks on October 1, 2 and 11.

Dujarric said: “It’s not the first time that we feel we’ve been targeted in different ways by the [Israeli army, including] pointing lasers or warning shots. He said his colleagues at UNIFIL were in touch with the Israeli military to “protest vehemently” against the attacks.

On Sunday, UNIFIL reported an Israeli drone flying over its patrol in an “aggressive manner”, saying its peacekeepers “applied necessary defensive countermeasures to neutralise the drone”. No injuries or damage were reported.

Israel still occupies five positions in southern Lebanon and has been launching near-daily attacks in defiance of the ceasefire. At least two brothers were killed in a strike on the village of al-Bayyad in the Tyre district on Monday.

The Lebanese official news agency ANI said that the two were killed in an attack on a sawmill in al-Bayyad.

Three people were killed on Sunday in raids on southern and eastern Lebanon.

The military says that it is targeting members of Hezbollah and its infrastructure, but Lebanese leaders have accused it of attempting to obstruct reconstruction by striking machinery like diggers and bulldozers.

The Israeli army said that its Sunday attacks targeted an arms dealer working for Hezbollah and another man who was “aiding the group’s attempts to rebuild its capacity for military action”.

Hezbollah, severely weakened by Israel’s attacks, has said it is ready to defend itself. “The possibility of war exists but is uncertain; it depends on their calculations,” said Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem in reference to Israel.

The United States government has been pressuring Lebanon to have the group surrender its arms to the country’s army.

US Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus arrived late on Monday in Beirut, where she is scheduled to meet Lebanese leaders.

Oct. 27 (UPI) — The United Nations said its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon came under Israeli fire over the weekend, and were forced to “neutralize” one of its drones.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon accused Israel of violating a U.N. Security Council resolution as well as Lebanon’s sovereignty with the attacks. It said in a statement that the military actions “show disregard for safety and security of peacekeepers implementing Security Council-mandated tasks in southern Lebanon.”

UNIFIL said it thrice came into contact with Israeli forces on Sunday near Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon.

An Israeli drone flew over a UNIFIL patrol in what it described as “an aggressive manner,” prompting peacekeepers to take “necessary defensive countermeasures to neutralize the drone.”

Then, at about 5:45 p.m. local time, an Israeli drone flying close to a UNIFIL patrol in the same area dropped a grenade, followed by an Israeli tank firing toward the peacekeepers as well as UNIFIL assets, it said.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed UNIFIL had shot down one of its drones, The Times of Israel reported, asserting the aerial posed no threat to the peacekeepers.

According to the report, the IDF said it flew a second drone in the area after UNIFIL shot down the first one, which had dropped the grenade prevent others from approaching the downed aerial.

The IDF also denied one of its tanks having fired toward UNIFIL, saying it had detected no gunfire in the area.

UNIFIL has twice previously this month accused Israel of dropping grenades near UNIFIL peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

On Oct. 12, UNIFIL said a grenade exploded near a UNIFIL position in Kfar Kila. On Oct. 2, grenades were dropped near peacekeepers in Maroun al-Ras.

UNIFIL maintains about 10,500 peacekeepers from 50 countries to monitor the 2006 cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and prevent a large conflict from spiraling.

It comes as the stages of fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza are being implemented.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 24 (UPI) — The inhabitants of southern Lebanon continue to live under the shadow of war, enduring near-daily Israeli airstrikes, intensive shelling and persistent drone activity that inflict further casualties and destruction, deepen suffering and shatter what remains of daily life.

A cease-fire accord brokered by the United States and France on Nov. 27 intended to end Israel’s devastating war against the Iran-backed Shiite Hezbollah militant group has failed to halt hostilities or restore calm to the embattled region.

Interpreting the truce accord as granting it the right to respond to any emerging threat, Israel has continued its attacks without restraint across southern Lebanon and beyond.

The post-truce phase has proven even more difficult and uncertain than the war itself, which began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah entered the conflict by opening a front in support of Gaza.

Suspected Hezbollah positions and efforts to prevent the group from regrouping and rearming have not been Israel’s only targets. The strikes now also include private construction equipment businesses, bulldozers, excavators and anything related to rebuilding while showing no restraint toward civilians — whether in vehicles, on motorcycles or even at home.

The most intense strikes occurred Oct. 11, targeting bulldozer and excavator yards in the al-Msayleh area, where more than 300 vehicles worth millions of dollars were destroyed. One Syrian passerby was killed, and seven people, including two women, were wounded.

A week later, a quarry and cement-asphalt factory in the village of Ansar, in the Nabatiyeh district, was hit by another Israeli attack and destroyed. Israel claimed that the targeted facilities were being used by Hezbollah to produce cement for rebuilding infrastructure that had been demolished during the war — an allegation strongly denied by the plant’s managing director.

“We are a 100% civilian institution and have nothing to do with anything else,” Ali Haidar Khalifeh, who is running the targeted cement factory, told UPI. “We are a registered company with around 70 employees and a large-scale production, serving dozens of clients, distributors and suppliers from across all regions of Lebanon.”

Khalifeh, who estimated the losses at more than $15 million, said it was inconceivable to hide “weapons, missiles or military infrastructure” in the plant.

“The enemy [Israel] needs no excuse or reason. … The message is clear: it is forbidden to rebuild,” he said. “It is also meant to frighten businessmen and investors, to keep them away from southern Lebanon.”

Even civilian engineers, who assist in assessing the damage inflicted on houses and villages during the war, have been threatened and targeted.

Tarek Mazaraani was one of them. He, his family and neighbors endured a frightening experience when an Israeli drone flying over several villages in southern Lebanon broadcast a voice message calling his name and warning that he was “dangerous,” telling people to keep away from him.

At first, when his friends started sending him videos of the drone, Mazraani thought it was a joke. He soon realized it was “something serious.”

His three sons, including 8-year-old twins, began to cry, while neighbors in the compound where he was temporarily living in the village of Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh in the Nabatiyeh district rushed to his house to bid farewell before leaving for safer locations. His family packed their belongings and went to relatives in a nearby village, while he quickly headed to Beirut.

“I was surprised. … I am a simple civilian engineer and don’t belong to any party or provoke anyone,” Mazraani told UPI, adding that he felt guilty for his family and neighbors, who had to “live through the tension” and leave their homes.

He asked why Israel had “created all this terror” if its intention was to kill him, adding, “They could have done so without even a warning.”

It could well have been a warning to him and others not to deal with Hezbollah, directly or indirectly. Earlier this year, while unemployed, he briefly worked as part of a team of engineers assessing war damage with “Jihad al-Binaa,” a Hezbollah-affiliated development and reconstruction organization.

Probably, he said, his other “sin” was trying to help displaced people return to their border villages, which had been reduced to rubble during the war, and seek compensation.

Mazraani was forced to leave his border village of Houla, where his house had been badly damaged by intensive Israeli bombardment. He then established the “Gathering of Residents of Southern Border Villages,” composed of displaced people from 45 villages, to draw attention to the plight of some 80,000 inhabitants who remain displaced and without resources.

Israel is making it clear, residents say, that it will not allow reconstruction in southern Lebanon or international funding unless Hezbollah is fully disarmed and the Lebanese government accepts direct negotiations on security arrangements.

Even prefabricated houses, water tanks and small vans are not permitted and are being destroyed. With the olive harvest season beginning, farmers in the border areas must obtain permission from Israeli authorities to harvest and are usually accompanied by the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeeping forces.

According to a Lebanese Army source, Israel has been using Hezbollah and its alleged efforts to rebuild military infrastructure as a pretext to block any reconstruction efforts and hinder a return to normalcy.

The source explained that destroying cement plants and bulldozers, threatening engineers and imposing curfews were intended to block the return of inhabitants to their villages and establish a security belt in the area until an agreement with Lebanon could be reached.

“These are also political pressures exerted on the government,” he told UPI.

Referring to recent Israeli war threats, drills on its northern front and intensified drone surveillance over Beirut — specifically targeting the presidential and government palaces — the source explained that “it is a psychological war aimed at dragging the government into accepting direct negotiations [with Israel], while the drones are searching for new targets.”

With the Army successfully advancing in taking control of southern Lebanon, the source confirmed that “there is no Hezbollah presence” along the border or south of the Litani River, as stipulated by the cease-fire agreement.

Regarding growing fears that Israel might be preparing to escalate the war on Lebanon, he said, “It can — as no one is deterring it, and it listens to no one except [U.S. President Donald] Trump.”

Many Lebanese, especially the inhabitants of southern Lebanon believe the war was never truly over, and that the truce accord merely prolonged the conflict to Israel’s advantage.

“The first thing we want is safety and security — to stop the fire so we can go back and rebuild our villages and homes,” said Mazraani, who said he was exhausted by the war, echoing the wish of many others in southern Lebanon.

World Health Organization says 41 critical patients evacuated yesterday as Rafah border remains shut, despite ceasefire.

The October 13, 2023, attack in southern Lebanon killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six other reporters.

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Lebanon to continue its pursuit of justice over a deadly Israeli strike two years ago that killed a Reuters journalist and wounded six other reporters.

The rights group said in a statement on Monday that it welcomed a move by Lebanon’s Ministry of Justice to investigate legal options to press charges against Israel for crimes against journalists.

Reporters Without Borders also welcomed that “Lebanon is finally taking action” as Israel is accused of targeting a large number of journalists during its military aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.

Issam Abdallah, a videographer for the Reuters news agency, was killed in the October 13, 2023, attack by an Israeli tank on southern Lebanon near the Israeli border. Two Al Jazeera reporters were among those injured.

HRW said Lebanon’s announcement last week that it was looking at legal options to pursue the matter presented a “fresh opportunity to achieve justice for the victims”.

Ramzi Kaiss, the NGO’s Lebanon researcher, said the country’s action to hold Israel accountable is overdue.

“Israel’s apparently deliberate killing of Issam Abdallah should have served as a crystal clear message for Lebanon’s government that impunity for war crimes begets more war crimes,” he said.

“Since Issam’s killing, scores of other civilians in Lebanon have been killed in apparently deliberate or indiscriminate attacks that violate the laws of war and amount to war crimes,” Kaiss asserted.

‘War crime’

The October 2023 attack wounded Al Jazeera cameraman Elie Brakhia and reporter Carmen Joukhadar, Reuters journalists Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, and the AFP news agency’s Christina Assi and Dylan Collins.

Assi was seriously wounded and had to have her right leg amputated.

HRW said an investigation by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) had found that an Israeli Merkava tank had fired two 120mm rounds at the group of clearly identifiable journalists.

The journalists were removed from the hostilities and had been stationary for more than an hour when they came under fire, the report said. No exchange of fire had been recorded across the border for more than 40 minutes before the attack.

The NGO said it had found no evidence of a military target near the journalists’ location and, because the incident appeared to be a deliberate attack on civilians, it constituted a war crime.

‘Premeditated, targeted attack’

Morris Tidball-Binz, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said on Friday that the attack was “a premeditated, targeted and double-tapped attack from the Israeli forces, a clear violation, in my opinion, of [international humanitarian law], a war crime”.

Reporters Without Borders urged Beirut to refer the case to the International Criminal Court, saying on Friday: “Lebanon is finally taking action against impunity for the crime.”

In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists said a record 124 journalists had been killed in 2024 and Israel was responsible for more than two-thirds of those deaths.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 10 (UPI) — Lebanon and Syria announced Friday the opening of a new chapter in their relations nearly 10 months after the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

This marks an attempt to move away from decades of tense ties, characterized by political domination and military interference, toward building a strong political and economic partnership.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani, the first high-ranking Syrian official to visit Lebanon since Assad was overthrown by rebel insurgents in December, said a historic, political and economic opportunity exists to transform the Lebanese-Syrian relationship from “a tense, security-based one into a strong political and economic partnership” that benefits both countries.

“We look forward to turning the page on the past because we want to build the future,” al-Shibani said, reaffirming his country’s respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and its commitment to establishing strong bilateral relations.

Earlier Friday, Syria told Lebanon it decided to suspend the work of the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council and limit all forms of correspondence between the two countries to official diplomatic channels.

The council was established in 1991, after Syria — under the late President Hafez Assad — imposed itself as the main power broker in Lebanon, having been granted a guardianship role after the civil war ended a year earlier.

Lebanon has suffered from a decades-long Syrian military presence — which began in 1976, shortly after the outbreak of the civil strife — along with political domination and manipulation that deeply affected its governance, political life, economy and overall stability.

Syria also was accused of being behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and numerous other such killings during the civil war and in peace time. Its influence over Lebanon began to wane rapidly following the withdrawal of its troops in 2005 and the outbreak of anti-Assad peaceful protests in 2011, which soon escalated into a bloody civil war.

Syrians, for their part, harbor grudges against Hezbollah — and its patron, Iran –for siding with the Assad regime and joining the brutal battles against opposition fighters starting in 2012. The involvement of Hezbollah and Iran in Syria ended with Assad’s fall.

“Our peoples have suffered from wars and tragedies; let us try peace,” al-Shibani said after talks with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, calling for strengthened cooperation in all fields so that Lebanon can benefit from the lifting of international sanctions on Syria.

Aoun, who called for the appointment of a new Syrian ambassador to Lebanon — a post vacant since the fall of Assad — said that deepening and developing bilateral relations requires the formation of joint committees to address all outstanding issues.

Both countries have undergone major changes and are working to resolve several complex issues, including the case of over 2,000 Syrian detainees in Lebanese prisons, the fate of numerous Lebanese prisoners or missing persons in Syria, the return of 1.5 million Syrian refugees from Lebanon to their homeland, the demarcation of land and maritime borders, and joint efforts to combat drug trafficking and terrorism.

“We have a long road ahead of us. …. We have no choice but to agree on what serves these mutual interests,” Aoun said, noting that the situation along the Lebanese-Syrian border has improved.

Al Shibani, accompanied by Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais, the head of Syrian intelligence, Hussein al-Salama; and the assistant interior minister, Maj. Gen. Abdel Qader Tahan, said all these issues were “certainly top priorities” and that committees from both countries are reviewing them.

The Syrian foreign minister, who also met with his Lebanese counterpart, Joe Rajji, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, emphasized the importance of enhancing security and intelligence coordination, as well as forming technical and economic committees across the public and private sectors to support Syria’s post-war reconstruction.

“Syria is undergoing a phase of recovery and reconstruction, which should positively reflect on Lebanon,” al-Shibani said.

Rajji praised Syria’s new leadership for respecting Lebanon’s sovereignty and refraining from interference in its internal affairs, adding, “We will work together to open a new path based on peace, security, economic cooperation and joint development.”

Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri, who attended the meeting between al-Shibani and Salam, said both countries demonstrated “political will” to address every issue “without taboos.”

“We have opened a new chapter in Lebanese-Syrian relations unlike any seen in the past fifty years,” Mitri said in an official statement released after the meeting.

Oct. 5 (UPI) — Syria is electing Parliament officials Sunday, paving the way toward a more democratic future after more than 50 years of dictatorship.

An electoral committee appointed by current president Ahmed al-Sharaa was in charge of developing regional groups comprised of local council members to facilitate the election process, the New York Times reported.

The votes will determine who makes up two thirds of the People’s Assembly, while al-Sharaa will choose 70 officials himself.

“As a transitional period, there is a difficulty to hold popular elections due to the loss of documents, and half of the population is outside of Syria, also without documents,” he said, per the BBC.

The election comes some 10 months after al-Sharaa unseated the former president, Bashar al-Assad, marking an end to a civil war that spanned 13 years.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump met with Sharaa to lift previously imposed sanctions that had taken effect while Assad was helming the country.

An interim constitution guiding the five-year transition of government power was signed .

Oct. 3 (UPI) — Officials at Long John Silver’s are replacing the chain’s former logo that featured a fish with one that features a chicken to share its “long-held secret.”

The new logo is designed to inform consumers that the seafood chain also offers chicken entrees.

“Guests have been telling us for years that our chicken is a best-kept secret,” said Christopher Caudill, senior vice president of marketing and innovation at Long John Silver’s, in a news release on Friday.

“Our hand-battered chicken strips — known as Chicken Planks — are every bit as crave-worthy as our legendary fish,” Caudill added. “It’s time we let that secret out.”

The Louisville, Ky.-based restaurant chain announced the change on Friday that will include a new wrap on the Long John Silver’s Front Row Motorsports car during the South Point 400 NASCAR race in Las Vegas on Oct. 12.

The restaurant chain tested its chicken-based products at its flagship restaurant in Louisville and received “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from its customers.

That feedback helped prevent the restaurant’s leaders from chickening out on the logo change following the recent uproar that occurred when Lebanon, Tenn.-based Cracker Barrel recently tried to change its longtime logo.

Cracker Barrel’s logo briefly removed an image of a seated elderly man resting his left elbow and forearm on a wooden barrel from its logo.

The change generated unexpected pushback from consumers and others, including President Donald Trump, who criticized the move on social media.

Cracker Barrel officials soon after announced they were canceling the logo change.

Oct. 1 (UPI) — Three men suspected of being Hamas members were arrested on a number of charges by authorities in Germany.

German federal prosecutors said Wednesday that three men arrested in Berlin on suspicion of being members of Iran’s terror syndicate Hamas were accused of gathering weaponry in order to carry out scores of planned attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions, according to The Washington Post, CBS News and CNN.

“Since at least the summer of 2025,” prosecutors stated, the three have been “involved in procuring firearms and ammunition” for Hamas.

They added two of the men were German citizens and the third identified as Lebanese.

According to officials, the three were identified as 44-year-old Syrian national Ahmad I., Abed Al G., 36, and 43-year-old Lebanon-born Wael F. M.

Prosecutors in Berlin charged them with membership in a foreign terrorist group and organizing an act of anti-state violence after police seized a stockpile of ammunition and weapons, including a slew of pistols and AK-47 assault gun.

On Thursday, they will be in front a judge to determine if the three should be held in detention before a later trial.

The arrests came just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to a 20-point U.S.-backed plan to end the bloody war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, now with credible U.N.-backed accusations of genocide, after he met Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington.

It followed last month’s United Nations General Assembly vote to back an independent Palestinian-run state that exists without leadership by Hamas militants as a condition.

A year on from Israel’s assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, reports say Hezbollah, the Lebanese group he led, is regrouping.

Analysts believe that while a weakened Hezbollah can no longer pose a significant threat to Israel, it can still create chaos and challenge opponents domestically as it tries to find a political footing to preserve its clout.

Long viewed as the strongest nonstate armed actor in the region, Hezbollah found its star waning in the past year, culminating in an international and domestic push for it to disarm entirely.

Handled recklessly, analysts believe, pressures to disarm the group could lead it to lash out and create internal strife that could outweigh international and regional pushes.

Hezbollah’s rhetoric remains defiant, and it has promised to reject Lebanese government efforts to disarm it – as its current leader, Naim Qassem, reiterated on Saturday to a crowd of thousands of people who had gathered at Nasrallah’s tomb to commemorate his assassination.

“We will never abandon our weapons, nor will we relinquish them,” he said to the crowd, adding that Hezbollah would continue to “confront any project that serves Israel”.

No action yet

Hezbollah started trading attacks with Israel on October 8, 2023, the day after the latter launched its war on Gaza. This continued until September 2024 when an Israeli military intensification and subsequent invasion killed about 4,000 people in Lebanon, injured thousands more and displaced hundreds of thousands.

By the time a ceasefire was announced on November 27, much of Hezbollah’s senior military leadership, including Nasrallah, the group’s secretary-general, had been killed by Israel.

The terms of the ceasefire were poorly defined, according to diplomatic sources with knowledge of the agreement, but the public understanding was that both sides would cease attacks, Hezbollah would disarm in southern Lebanon and Israel would withdraw its forces from the south. But soon after, Israel and the United States argued that Hezbollah must disarm entirely.

Seeing it weakened, Hezbollah’s domestic and regional opponents began calling for the group to give up its weapons. Sensing the changing regional winds, many of Hezbollah’s domestic allies jumped ship and voiced support for full disarmament.

The Lebanese government, under pressure from the US and Israel, announced on September 5 that the Lebanese armed forces have been tasked with forming a plan to disarm Hezbollah.

In the meantime, Israel has continually violated the ceasefire, bombing southern Lebanon. UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in the south, said Israel is committing “continuous violations of this [ceasefire] arrangement, including air and drone strikes on Lebanese territory”.

Despite media speculation that Hezbollah is regrouping in southern Lebanon, particularly in anti-Hezbollah media outlets, it has only claimed one attack since the ceasefire was announced in November.

Analysts believe Hezbollah is no longer in a position to threaten Israel, meaning that any decision by the latter to expand attacks in Lebanon would be for considerations other than Hezbollah’s current capabilities.

Hezbollah and its supporters argue that Israel’s threats and continued violations as well as its continued presence occupying five points on Lebanese territory justify the need for resistance.

“The continued existence of a real threat justifies the maintenance of deterrence and defence capabilities because deterrence is not a one-time event but rather a cumulative process that requires a stable and integrated power structure within a broader political context,” Ali Haidar, a columnist with the pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar, wrote recently.

Al Jazeera reached out to Hezbollah for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

What does ‘regrouping’ mean?

“No military or political military force [will not] regroup after suffering a major defeat as [Hezbollah] did last year,” Michael Young, a Lebanese analyst and writer, said.

“But are they in a position to mount rockets and bomb northern Israel along the border? No. Are they in a position to fire missiles at towns and cities? No.

“So what does [regrouping] mean?”

Lebanese political scientist Imad Salamey told Al Jazeera: “Hezbollah is significantly degraded – leadership attrition, [communications] penetrations and blows to command and control have been real. They will try to recover, but the plausible path is a smaller, cheaper, more agile Hezbollah.

“Israeli assessments themselves note both the damage done and Hezbollah’s attempts to regenerate via smuggling/self-production under intense intelligence pressure, suggesting any rebound will be partial and tactical rather than structural in the near term,” Salamey added.

In early December, the regime of Hezbollah ally Bashar al-Assad was toppled in Syria, another blow to the group, as it cut off a direct land route for weapons and financing to reach the group from Iran.

In the meantime, however, analysts said Hezbollah has been trying to use its remaining leverage through diplomacy, even sending signals to longtime foes like Saudi Arabia.

“We assure you that the arms of the resistance are pointed at the Israeli enemy, not Lebanon, Saudi Arabia or any other place or entity in the world,” Qassem said in a speech on September 19.

The message to Saudi Arabia, which has previously funded Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon, is part of a shift in the group’s strategy, analysts said.

“There’s a hint that they feel they can deal with things politically,” Young said. “They may feel they don’t need to resort to force or weapons if they can get more out of the system.”

It is also a reflection of the new political reality in Lebanon and the region, where Israel and the US have ascended in power and Iran, Hezbollah’s close ally, has faltered.

“Hezbollah is starting to realise that it is entrapped,” Lebanese political analyst Karim Emile Bitar told Al Jazeera.

Before the war, Hezbollah had the ability to make or break governments. But President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam were elected in early 2025 despite neither being Hezbollah’s preferred candidate.

Still, Hezbollah was either unwilling or unable to disrupt the formation of Salam’s government. Analysts said the group is in dire need of foreign aid that the government could secure to help rebuild its constituencies damaged by Israeli attacks.

But that money has yet to arrive as there is regional and domestic debate over whether the government should receive reconstruction funds before Hezbollah’s disarmament and other banking or political reforms.

Analysts and diplomats told Al Jazeera Hezbollah is still capable of raising tensions but has avoided fanning any flames due to the Lebanese state’s rising support as well as the fatigue and trauma Hezbollah members and supporters have due to last year’s war and continuing Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Still, on Thursday, Hezbollah supporters flocked to Beirut’s seaside in remembrance of Nasrallah. Supporters projected their late leader’s image onto the Raouche Rocks, defying orders from the prime minister’s office that banned the act.

The event was seen as an expression of love for Nasrallah by his supporters and a provocation by Hezbollah’s opponents. But the group, which has threatened violence to get its way in the past, has largely avoided provocations since the war, apart from occasional attempts to block roads that were quickly reopened by the Lebanese military.

If Hezbollah is pursuing military regrouping, a senior Western diplomat with knowledge of the issue said, it would be more likely in the Bekaa Valley than in the south, where the ceasefire mechanism had been largely effective at supervising Hezbollah’s withdrawal.

The group, however, does appear to be altering its political strategy, Young said, adding that Hezbollah, via instructions from Iran, may eventually be looking for certain compromises.

He pointed out proposals by parliamentarians Ali Hassan Khalil, a Hezbollah ally, and Ali Fayyad, a Hezbollah MP, in their subcommittees, where they spoke about implementing the 1989 Ta’ef Accord, an agreement that ended the civil war, declared all militias should give up their arms and Lebanon should transition to a nonsectarian system of power.

“Their implicit point is that ‘If we implement Ta’ef in its entirety, then that can give us a greater role with better representation, and then we can talk about weapons,’” Young said.

‘Time for Hezbollah to go’?

Amid the intensifying pressure to disarm Hezbollah, analysts and diplomats fear that if pressed too hard, the group could lash out.

The US has announced a $14.2m aid package for the Lebanese military to help it disarm Hezbollah, and visits by US officials – including Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, deputy special envoy Morgan Ortagus and special envoy Tom Barrack – have intensified pressure on Lebanon.

“It’s time for Hezbollah to go,” Graham said during his visit in late August.

But Lebanon’s military has rejected setting a strict timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament over fears the tense situation in Lebanon could descend into violence.

And news of the US aid has been received poorly in parts of Lebanon, where it is seen as part of a US effort to use Lebanon’s military to execute Israeli interests.

“[The Lebanese army] will never serve as a border guard for Israel. Its weapons are not weapons of discord, and its mission is sacred: to protect Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is a Hezbollah ally, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The fears of diplomats and analysts are that a confrontation between the army and Hezbollah could lead to internal strife and a potential fracturing of the army along confessional lines – similar to what happened in the early days of the 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War.

“[Disarming Hezbollah by force] is the worst possible option, but obviously, this is how the Americans are increasingly pressuring the Lebanese government to resolve this,” Young told Al Jazeera.

“The Lebanese army is not willing to resolve it through the use of force because they don’t want to be pushed into conflict with Hezbollah.”

Israel says Hezbollah member killed in strike, but Lebanon says attack is a ‘crime against civilians’.

An Israeli drone strike has killed five people, including three children, in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, Lebanon’s Health Ministry has said, as Israel continues to target its neighbour despite a US-brokered truce that took effect in November.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported on Sunday that the strike targeted a motorcycle and a vehicle, and wounded two other people.

Lebanon’s Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri said that the three children – named as Celine, Hadi, and Aseel – and their father were United States citizens. The mother of the children was injured in the attack.

Israel said that the strike had killed a member of the Hezbollah group, but admitted that civilians also had been killed.

Israel has frequently hit what it alleges are Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, claiming to be preventing the Iran-backed Lebanese group from rebuilding its military power following its war against Israel, which killed most of its senior leadership, including its longtime chief, Hassan Nasrallah.

‘New massacre’

“Is it Lebanese childhood that poses an existential threat to the Israeli entity?” Berri asked, according to NNA. “Or is it the behaviour of this entity, in killing without deterrence or accountability, that constitutes a real threat to international peace and security?”

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accused Israel of committing “a new massacre”.

“What happened is a blatant crime against civilians and a message of intimidation targeting our people returning to their villages in the south,” Salam, who previously served as the president of the International Court of Justice, said.

“The international community must condemn Israel in the strongest terms for its repeated violations of international resolutions and international law.”

Labour Minister Mohamad Haidar also claimed Israel was deliberately targeting the Lebanese population that had returned to the south after more than a year of conflict sparked by Israel’s war on Gaza.

“This plan will not succeed, because the will of the people of the south is stronger than the criminal machine,” Haidar said.

The US and Saudi Arabia, along with Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon, have been pressuring the Shia Muslim group to give up arms. Lebanon’s army earlier this month presented a plan to the government’s cabinet to disarm Hezbollah, saying the military will begin executing it.

Hezbollah is adamant it will hold onto its weapons and insists it would be a mistake to disarm while Israel continues to strike Lebanon and occupy swaths of territory in the south.

Israel has attacked a school in the Al Shati refugee camp that was a makeshift shelter for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City.

Sept. 10 (UPI) — The Trump administration approved an assistance package worth $14.2 million to assist Lebanon with its efforts to disarm Hezbollah, the U.S. Defense Department announced Wednesday.

The Lebanese military will use funds from the Presidential Drawdown Authority package to dismantle arms held by non-state groups, including Hezbollah.

On Friday, the Lebanese government welcomed a plan by its army to disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah. This came after Lebanon’s Cabinet approved of a U.S. proposal to direct the Lebanese military to enforce a state monopoly on weapons by the end of the year.

A release from the Pentagon said the package will provide the Lebanese military with the ability to carry out patrols and dispose of unexploded ordnance.

Through the package, the U.S. Defense Department is “empowering” the Lebanese military “in degrading Hezbollah in alignment with the administration’s priority to counter Iranian-backed terrorist groups in the region,” the release said.

During last week’s meeting between the Lebanese Cabinet and military, all five Shiite ministers, four of who represent Hezbollah and its main ally, the Amal Movement, left in protest of the disarmament plan. They said any plan to disarm Hezbollah must start with discussing a defense strategy to protect the country.

As part of the Nov. 27 cease-fire deal to end the 14-month war between Lebanon and Hezbollah, all parties agreed to discuss a national defense strategy. Hezbollah, however resisted government plans to set a deadline for disarmament.

Dalal Saoud contributed to this report.

Israel claims it has struck Hezbollah targets, although the Lebanese group has not commented.

At least five people have been killed and five others wounded after Israeli warplanes struck eastern Lebanon in the latest violation of the ceasefire agreement signed last November, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The attacks on Monday hit the Bekaa and Hermel districts, with state media saying at least eight air raids were carried out. According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, seven bombs fell on the outskirts of Hermel, while another strike targeted the nearby town of Labweh.

Israel’s military claimed the raids hit weapons depots and military facilities used by Hezbollah, though the claims could not be independently confirmed. Hezbollah has not yet commented.

Israel has continued launching near-daily assaults on Lebanese territory, particularly in the south, while maintaining an occupation at five border outposts despite the truce requiring a full withdrawal earlier this year.

The conflict erupted on October 8, 2023, when Israel opened a military offensive in Lebanon. By the time the ceasefire was reached in November the following year, more than 4,000 people had been killed and almost 17,000 wounded.

The fragile truce is under further strain as Lebanon grapples with a contentious plan pushed by the United States and Israel to disarm Hezbollah.

Earlier this month, Lebanon’s army presented a proposal to the cabinet outlining steps to begin dismantling the group’s arsenal. Information Minister Paul Morcos said the government welcomed the move, but stopped short of confirming cabinet approval.

The plan prompted a walkout by five Shia ministers, including representatives of Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, who insist the group will not disarm while Israel continues air strikes and occupation in the south.

The US and Hezbollah’s political rivals in Lebanon have increased pressure on the group to surrender its weapons. Hezbollah has resisted, warning that even raising the issue while Israeli attacks persist would be a “serious misstep”.

Last week, Israeli strikes killed four people in Lebanon, underlining the escalating tension despite the ceasefire. Israel was also slammed for dropping grenades close to peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) last week.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept. 5 (UPI) — The Lebanese Cabinet on Friday embraced a plan prepared by the Army to disarm Iran-backed Hezbollah, but decided to keep its details confidential, stating that the military would begin implementing it based on its available and limited capabilities.

Information Minister Paul Morcos, reading a statement at the end of the Cabinet session, said that the Council of Ministers “welcomed” the plan put forth by the Army Command and its “successive phases” aimed at ensuring the implementation of the decision to “restrict weapons to the hands of the legitimate authorities.”

Morcos said the Cabinet, in asking that the plan and its related deliberations remain confidential, requested the Army Command to submit a monthly report on progress made.

All five Shiite ministers, four of whom represent Hezbollah and its main ally, the Amal Movement, walked out of the session when Army Cmdr. Gen. Rodolphe Haykal Haykal joined to present the Army’s plan.

Hezbollah’s Labor Minister Mohammad Haidar explained in a post on X that they were protesting the discussion of the Army’s plan “at this timing,” arguing that achieving a “monopoly of weapons” requires initiating the process with “a defense strategy to protect Lebanon.”

Last month, the Cabinet endorsed the objectives of a U.S.-proposed plan to disarm Hezbollah and tasked the Army with preparing a strategy to enforce a state monopoly on weapons by the end of the year.

The Army’s plan reportedly did not include a clear timeframe for its implementation — a move intended to ease tensions with Hezbollah, which has refused to disarm and rejected the deadline previously set by the government because of Israel’s ongoing occupation of parts of southern Lebanon, daily air strikes and detention of Lebanese prisoners.

Morcos said the Army will begin to implement the plan, “but in accordance with the available and limited logistical, financial and human resources.”

He pointed to several “constraints” that hinder the plan’s execution, citing foremost among them Israel’s ongoing violations of the Nov. 27 cease-fire agreement brokered by the United States and France to end the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.

While Hezbollah implicitly agreed to discuss its weapons as part of a national defense strategy, it resisted government efforts to set a timetable for disarming — a key U.S. condition for unlocking much-needed international and Gulf Arab funding to support Lebanon’s reconstruction and economic recovery.

Morcos said while Lebanon has taken “two fundamental unilateral steps” — approving the U.S.-backed disarmament proposal and entrusting its army with extending state authority across all Lebanese territory — Israel has so far shown “no commitment” to the proposal, “nor taken any reciprocal actions.”

He reiterated that Israel “bears clear obligations” under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and the cease-fire agreement, warning that its continued violations “pose serious risks to regional security and stability.”

“Our concerns remain ensuring that the entirety of the country falls under the Army’s authority, advancing reconstruction, stopping Israeli hostilities and addressing the issue of detainees,” Morcos said.

“We continue moving in the same direction … and progressing , without igniting internal division, because such a division would not serve our interests.”

Lebanon, facing mounting pressure from the United States and regional powers to disarm Hezbollah, risks internal divisions and a breakdown in security due to the militant group’s refusal to lay down its arms.

Its decision to set a timeline for Hezbollah disarmament was mainly motivated by the risk of another destructive war with Israel and losing much-needed funds to rebuild its war-devastated regions.

According to The New York Times, U.S officials warned that Lebanon’s leaders are running out of time to disarm Hezbollah at the risk of losing U.S. and Gulf Arab financial support and even seeing a renewed military campaign.

The newspaper reported that the United States, Israel and the Gulf Arab states were pressuring the Lebanese government “to act decisively” and not be intimidated by Hezbollah threats to incite violence.

It quoted one U.S. official as warning that “inaction or half-measures” by Lebanon could lead Congress to cut off roughly $150 million in annual funding for the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Other U.S. officials said that the greater risk to Lebanon is that Israel will conclude it must “finish the job” through renewed military campaign that could incur major damage and casualties.

The Hezbollah-Israel war killed or wounded more 21,500 people, displaced more than 1.2 million people and left border villages in southern Lebanon in ruins.

According to the World Bank’s estimate, Lebanon needs $11 billion for reconstruction and economic recovery, while Lebanese officials put it at more than $14 billion.