Lebanon’s government has unequivocally denounced Israel’s actions in the south of the country as a deliberate assault on its sovereignty and a grave violation of international law and humanitarian principles, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam stated on Wednesday. Salam’s forceful condemnation follows a period of increasingly volatile activity, marked by Israeli military incursions, demolitions, and systematic destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure across the country’s southern region. The Prime Minister rejected Israel’s assertions that villages destroyed were military sites, arguing that the claim “does not stand up to any logic and cannot be used as an excuse for destroying them, displacing their inhabitants, and preventing them from returning.”
Salam’s criticism came hours after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited southern Lebanon and announced that Israeli forces were ‘destroying the underground infrastructure’ and ‘destroying all the houses.’ Katz separately asserted Israeli troops would not withdraw from occupied zones in Lebanon, Syria, or Gaza. Israeli attacks have resulted in several casualties in southern Lebanon, with a day later a strike hitting a home in Burj al-Shemali, resulting in the wounding of eleven people. A US State Department official confirmed that Washington anticipates all parties to act in a manner consistent with the framework agreed upon in June, emphasizing that Israel has clearly stated that it has no territorial ambitions in Lebanon. A US-mediated ceasefire, aimed at halting the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, began on April 17, but Israeli forces have continued their attacks and occupied several villages across the southern region, with no timeline established for a full withdrawal. The latest conditional truce, tracing back to a framework agreement in Washington in June, stipulated Israeli forces were meant to gradually withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory as the Lebanese army deployed to replace them, starting with limited ‘pilot zones,’ in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Lebanon and Israel have held seven rounds of US-mediated talks, four in Washington and three in Rome, aimed at implementing this agreement.
The latest conditional truce, initiated in March, stems from an agreement in Washington in June, under which Israeli forces were intended to gradually withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory as the Lebanese army deploys to replace them, with limited ‘pilot zones,’ in exchange for Hezbollah’s disarmament. Lebanon and Israel have since held eight rounds of US-mediated talks, four in Washington and three in Rome, attempting to implement the agreement.
Hezbollah, which has not participated in the negotiations, has maintained a conditional stance, stating it would pull back from the Litani River but will not disarm to the north. Lebanon authorities have reported that Israeli strikes and ground operations since March have resulted in 4,333 deaths and the displacement of more than a million people, roughly a fifth of the country’s population. These figures have continued to climb through the summer, even after the ceasefire nominally took effect. In Washington, two US senators have proposed a $1.2 billion security assistance package for Lebanon over five years, tying part of the funding to progress on the country’s monopoly over weapons and Hezbollah’s disarmament, highlighting a continued stalemate and unresolved political and military situation.
The assistance package underscores the country’s post-war instability, bound up with an unresolved political and military standoff that demonstrates little easing.
Source: Al Jazeera
