Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened on Thursday to launch an "intense war" in the event of a violation of the ceasefire agreement between his country's armed forces and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which was put into effect early Wednesday but is already being tested.
A few hours earlier, the Israeli military announced that it had carried out an airstrike against a Hezbollah installation in southern Lebanon, the first since a truce that was supposed to end the war with the Shiite movement, an ally of Iran, came into effect.
After the cease-fire began, at 04:00 yesterday Wednesday (local time and Greek time), tens of thousands of displaced people rushed to return to their homes, in southern and eastern Lebanon and southern sectors of Beirut, strongholds of Hezbollah, where they were in the face of huge disasters.
The Lebanese army, which has begun deploying men and armored vehicles to the southern part of the territory, yesterday accused Israel of "repeatedly" violating the ceasefire agreement.
"If necessary, I will order" the army to wage "intensive war in case of violation of the ceasefire," Mr. Netanyahu during an interview with an Israeli television network.
The Israeli armed forces announced that they imposed a curfew from yesterday at 17:00 until 07:00 today in the southern part of the Lebanese territory, which is adjacent to the northern part of the Israeli territory, after it "opened fire" in the direction of "suspects (... ) who violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement".
In addition, an Israeli aircraft targeted a "forested area inaccessible to civilians" in the city of Baisaria, its mayor, Nazi Eid, told AFP.
The Israeli military said it located a facility used by Hezbollah "to store medium-range rockets in southern Lebanon" and "neutralized the threat" with the airstrike.
He added that elements of it "remain in southern Lebanon and are working to uphold" the ceasefire agreement.
At least two people were injured when Israeli forces opened fire in the village of Markaba in southern Lebanon, according to news agency ANI.
The Lebanese army continues its deployment, installing "checkpoints", an AFP source in its ranks said yesterday, hastening to clarify that "areas where the Israeli army remains" are being avoided for the time being.
In the Christian village of Klaaya, the soldiers were welcomed yesterday by jubilant residents showering them with flowers and rice.
Parliament yesterday extended for a year the term of chief of the national defense general staff Joseph Aoun, who was expected to retire in January.
The truce ended a conflict that began more than 13 months ago between the Lebanese Shiite movement and the Israeli armed forces and turned into open war in September, forcing some 900.000 people from their homes in Lebanon, according to the UN, as and about 60.000 civilians in northern Israel.
On October 8, 2023, Hezbollah opened a front with Israel in support of Hamas, the day after the Palestinian Islamist movement's unprecedented incursion into the southern part of Israeli territory, which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
After nearly a year of cross-border firefights and after believing it had weakened Hamas in the Palestinian enclave, Israel shifted the center of gravity of the war into Lebanese territory, launching a massive aerial bombardment campaign on September 23 against Hezbollah strongholds and launching a ground assault on southern Lebanon seven days later on the 30th September, with the argument that he wants to guarantee the safe return of displaced Israelis.
According to Lebanese authorities, at least 3.961 people have died in Lebanon since October 2023, the vast majority since the end of September. On the Israeli side, 82 military personnel and 47 civilians were killed in the attacks and clashes with Hezbollah, according to the official count.
The deal, brokered by the US and France, gives the Israeli armed forces 60 days to gradually withdraw from southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah is required to deploy north of the Litani River, about thirty kilometers from the border, and dismantle its military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
The agreement is based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006), which dealt with the end of the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Israel says it maintains "full freedom of military action in Lebanon" should "Hezbollah violate the agreement and attempt to rearm".
Yesterday Wednesday, Hezbollah declared its "victory", assuring that its fighters "will remain fully prepared to face (...) the attacks of the Israeli enemy".
Although decapitated—its leadership decimated by Israeli bombing—the Shiite movement remains a major player in the Lebanese political scene. He can play a key role in the election of a new president, which has been impossible for the past two years due to political conflicts.
Parliament is expected to meet on January 9 for this election process, according to ANI.
Residents of the south continued yesterday en masse to return to their villages and towns, which have suffered terrible damage in many cases.
In the city of Tyre, an important port with UNESCO World Heritage archaeological sites, the destruction of vital infrastructure has made some districts uninhabitable.
"We have no water, no electricity anymore, even the private generators are not working, the cables have been cut," said Suleiman Nazde, 60, who returned to the family apartment to find doors and windows torn out.
"I didn't expect so many disasters. I saw the images, but the reality is harsher," added Dunya Nazde, his daughter-in-law, 33 years old.
In the neighborhoods in the southern part of Beirut, Ali Mohammad Abbas went to his brother's grave, in a cemetery that was ravaged by Israeli bombs. "I was waiting for the ceasefire," explained the resident of the Bekaa Valley (east), who was unable to attend the funeral: "the roads were not safe."
A little further on, Ahmad Aki Mansoor was saying that he was glad to be back at work — he is a traveling grocer. Because he will need to rebuild from scratch what the war turned into rubble: "the houses of my three sons were destroyed," he said.
Source: protothema.gr