Israeli forces are intensifying military operations across southern Lebanon while rejecting negotiations until current operations conclude, with Israel planning further campaigns deeper into Lebanese territory.
President Joseph Aoun returned from Italy after meeting Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to discuss Rome's role in a weapons verification mechanism. Army Commander Rodolphe Haykal is expected to visit Italy in coming days to coordinate practically with the Italian military on implementing the verification process.
No progress has been made on setting a new date for Lebanon-Israel negotiations. Israel has rejected any withdrawal from new trial areas and refuses to enter talks before completing operations in Ali al-Tahir.
Israeli military operations in the south have intensified across multiple axes. In the western sector, forces continue operations in Mansoura to expand the Blue Line. In the central sector, Israel seeks to annex new towns to the Blue Line. In Ali al-Tahir, Israel is escalating airstrikes, bombings and artillery fire in preparation for assault and capture.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking American approval not merely to complete Ali al-Tahir operations but to proceed beyond them, citing what he describes as the need to eliminate threats posed by the party's installations to Israel.
After Ali al-Tahir, Israel is focusing on Jabal al-Rihan, Eqlim al-Tuffah and the western Beqaa, where large military installations stand according to Israeli claims. These areas sit at 1,200 metres elevation. Israeli forces moving toward them from Khardali to Nabatieh would face difficult terrain, giving Hezbollah capacity to detect their movements.
Concern exists that Israel may attempt to surprise Hezbollah and Lebanese forces with such an operation while attention is fixed on Ali al-Tahir.
The United States has classified Hezbollah as part of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian-owned, treating it not as a Lebanese party but as an Iranian asset.
Israel is exploiting this classification to intensify military pressure on the party while the United States applies political and financial pressure through sanctions and conditions imposed on the Lebanese state and other nations deemed capable of providing the party military, financial or social benefit. This forms part of a broader campaign against Iran now focused on economic strangulation.
Netanyahu is personally leading efforts to convince Americans that, given the existing sanctions on Iran and absent a return to war against it, he should receive a green light to escalate operations in Lebanon. He argues that pressure and strikes against Hezbollah will impact Iran and force it toward concessions.
