Israel-Hezbollah Clashes Intensify in Southern Lebanon Amid US-Brokered Ceasefire

Israel’s military clashed with the Iran-backed militant Hezbollah group on Tuesday along a strategic river in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops pushed farther north, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to expand Israeli operations in the country. The clashes come amid a US-brokered ceasefire that has been in place since mid-April and despite ongoing peace negotiations in Washington with the fourth round of direct talks scheduled for next week, 2 and 3 June. At least 31 people were killed in the latest attacks, including several children, according to Lebanon's health ministry. Israel’s military said it struck more than 100 Hezbollah sites across the region and the eastern Bekaa Valley area overnight, adding that it targeted storage facilities, command centres and observation points used to attack Israeli troops and residents in northern Israel. The escalation leaves the US-brokered ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in jeopardy, complicating efforts at a broader peace in the Iran war, as Tehran wants an agreement to include an end to the fighting in Lebanon. The Litani River has been a de facto boundary in Lebanon, with large areas to the south under Israeli military control despite the ceasefire that’s been in place for over a month. At least 31 people killed by Israeli strikes Speaking after meeting with his defence minister and senior military officials on Monday, Netanyahu vowed Israel would expand its operations in Lebanon. “The (Israeli Defense Forces) are operating with large forces on the ground and seizing strategic areas,” he said, adding that Israel is trying to fortify an area of southern Lebanon under its control, which it says is necessary to protect residents in its northern border towns from Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks. Since then Israel has intensified airstrikes, with one reportedly hitting the eastern village of Mashghara, killing 12 people, including several members of the same family, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said. Another strike in the village just north of the river killed 12 people, including several members of the same family. On Tuesday, Israel warned city residents in the province of Nabatiyeh to leave. Beirut, the Lebanese capital, has been spared from strikes since the start of the ceasefire, but Israel’s latest moves have caused fear. Lebanon hopes for Israeli withdrawal deal Meanwhile, the Lebanese government, which came to power on a platform of reform and disarming Hezbollah and other armed groups, hopes that the direct talks with Israel — which Hezbollah opposes — will lead to a permanent ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israel says it will not withdraw until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat to residents of its northern towns, while Hezbollah has vowed to fight until Israel stops its daily airstrikes and withdraws its troops from Lebanon. In recent weeks, Hezbollah has boasted that it is using new fibre-optic drones that Israeli troops have struggled to intercept, hitting both Israeli forces and northern Israeli villages. Israel has told people there not to gather in large numbers. “What this requires of us now is to increase the blows, to increase the intensity. We will smite them hip and thigh,” Netanyahu said on Monday. Over 1 million people in Lebanon have been displaced in the war, sparked when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel on 2 March in solidarity with Iran, two days after the Iran war began. At least 3,213 people have been killed, with over 9,700 wounded in Israeli strikes since the start of the war, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.