The truce in Lebanon extended (at least on paper) for three weeks by Donald Trump takes place amidst clashes that continued into the night and throughout the day with a focus of violence in Bint Jbeil, a former Hezbollah stronghold and almost completely razed to the ground by Israel.
While the American president announces that “within 15 days” he will meet the leaders of Israel and Beirut. In the background, the summit between the European Union and heads of state of the Eastern Mediterranean allied with the United States took place in Cyprus. On the ground, the reality remains that of a war that continues without interruption.
Violent fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli army is underway in Bint Jbeil. The IDF claims to have killed 6 fighters from the pro-Iranian movement in the same area.
Overnight, Israeli raids had caused at least three deaths in the south of the country, while artillery had hit the Wadi Suluki valley, a line along which Israel aims to consolidate the “buffer zone”.
Bombings also affected the coast south of Tyre. And explosions and demolitions were recorded in several locations south of the Litani River. Hezbollah responded by claiming responsibility for firing drones at Israeli soldiers in Qantara and claiming to have hit a military vehicle in the same area. The movement also announced that it had shot down an Israeli drone in the skies of Tire with a surface-to-air missile.
The episode was confirmed by the Israeli army. On a political level, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accuses Hezbollah of wanting to “sabotage” efforts for “peace with Lebanon”, stating that Israel will maintain “full freedom of action” against any threat and of having struck targets in the country “yesterday and today”. On the Lebanese side, Hezbollah rejects the approach of the agreement.
The head of the parliamentary group Muhammad Raad defines the truce as a “perfidious sham”, claiming that the “ceasefire” instead serves to provide cover for Israeli operations and asking the Lebanese authorities to withdraw from negotiations with Israel.
Meanwhile, the summit between the European Union and regional partners of the Eastern Mediterranean took place in Nicosia, with the participation, among others, of the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the Syrian leader Ahmad Sharaa and the Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. And on the sidelines of the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to organize a donors’ conference “in support of Lebanon”.