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Lebanon remains tense and divided despite the three-week extension of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, with limited exchanges of fire continuing and pressure building on the Lebanese government from all sides.
Hezbollah directed The National to statements by two of its MPs, with parliamentary leader Mohammad Raad saying the "supposed ceasefire" was not one at all due to Israel's actions. "The authorities should feel ashamed before their people and withdraw from what has been called direct negotiations with the [Israeli] enemy," he added.
Another MP Ali Fayyad, said the ceasefire was “meaningless” given Israel's aggressions against Lebanon, destruction of villages and continued occupation of large areas of the country. The ceasefire “does not place any obligations, even within the minimum limits, on the Israeli side”, and thus Hezbollah is entitled to respond to attacks, Mr Fayyad said.
The ceasefire extension follows rare direct talks on Thursday between the ambassadors of Lebanon and Israel to the US. It is the second time the ambassadors have held talks in Washington aimed at tackling disputes along their border.
Hezbollah has condemned the government for seeking direct talks with Israel. The talks were initially set to be hosted at the State Department but were moved at the last minute to the White House.
Under the terms of the truce, Israel has remained in areas of southern Lebanon that it invaded during the war and continued to bomb perceived threats. Despite the extension of the ceasefire, low-level exchanges of fire have continued – although largely from Israel.
On Friday, Hezbollah said it had launched attacks at 6am and 10am on Israeli soldiers in Taybeh, southern Lebanon. It has said that these operations were in response to Israeli attacks. The Israeli military has continued demolishing buildings inside its "Yellow Zone", which serves as its latest occupation area of south Lebanon.
The truce followed six weeks of intense Israeli bombardment and a ground invasion in southern Lebanon that the UN says may have amounted to war crimes. Extensive drone activity could also be heard in the capital, Beirut, on Friday.
“Of course, we do welcome it,” said a senior official in the Lebanese Forces (LF), the largest Christian party in the parliament and a vocal opponent of Hezbollah. “We equally welcome the US President and administration's support for Lebanon, [which is] much needed nowadays,” they added.
Hezbollah's opponents in parliament have urged a stronger approach from the government in disarming the group, but there are fears that doing so will risk further inflaming sectarian tensions. The LF source said this period must be used by the state to enact the “long-awaited” move to ensure all weapons are under its control – and thus disarm Hezbollah.
“Any other circumstance between the state and the statelet created by Iran and Hezbollah is only a formula for further instability and wars and miseries,” they added
Israel and Hezbollah reached a ceasefire after fighting a devastating war for more than a year, following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. Fighting resumed on March 2 this year after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel. The Tehran-backed group said it was avenging the killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Israel-US strikes, and responding to more than a year of ceasefire breaches, with near-daily Israeli breaches recorded.
Israel retaliated with force that was described as “disproportionate” by EU and Western officials, and civilians in Lebanon paid the heaviest toll. At least 2,000 people, including more than 170 children, have been killed since then, according to Lebanese authorities.
