Powerful explosions continued to shake Beirut’s southern suburbs for a third straight day on Saturday as Israel escalated its bombardment in Lebanon. For the first time, Israel also targeted a refugee camp in northern Lebanon as part of its ongoing efforts to weaken Hezbollah’s military capabilities. Thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians, many with children, fled the expanding conflict. Meanwhile, rallies took place around the world, marking the approaching anniversary of Hezbollah’s attacks in Israel, which sparked the ongoing war.
Despite the relentless bombing, there appeared to be growing momentum for a ceasefire, with a senior Lebanese official indicating that Hezbollah is willing to withdraw its forces from the Lebanese-Israeli border as part of an agreement. However, the official rejected Israel’s demand for the right to strike the Iran-backed group at will in the future.
Lebanon’s foreign minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, told Al Jazeera that Hezbollah was prepared to abide by a UN resolution that ended a 2006 war between the two countries. The terms of the resolution stipulate that Hezbollah must keep its forces back from the border. “Lebanon insists that a ceasefire should be firmly based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” Khalil said. “We want to see the area at the Lebanese-Israeli frontier free of any armed forces other than those of the Lebanese state and that Hezbollah maintains a minimal presence in this area.”
Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem, has long insisted that his group will not agree to a deal that does not include a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the region. However, the group faces mounting pressure in Lebanon to clinch a deal, particularly from critics who argue that it dragged the country into a conflict not in its interests.
Israel’s leaders face pressure from inside their current governing coalition and the Israeli public to expand the war to achieve what they see as the strategic defeat of Hezbollah, which would likely require a ground invasion in Hezbollah’s strongholds in the Bekaa Valley and urban areas in southern Beirut. But such a move could prove politically dangerous for Netanyahu, who leads one of the most right-wing governments in Israel’s history and has far-right coalition partners that threaten to bring him down if he concedes too much.
Washington must step in to press for a ceasefire and impose a series of binding conditions on Hezbollah as the conflict enters its second week, writes Michel Duclos, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East Programs. The conditions should include a complete Israeli withdrawal without any temporary truce or intermediary stages, the rehabilitation of southern Lebanon within hours of that withdrawal, and the involvement of no external parties. They should also demand that Hezbollah stop the firing of rockets into Israel, which could otherwise escalate the conflict and lead to a broader regional catastrophe. Unless these demands are met, a peace process will remain on hold.
