Despite the cessation of hostilities with Iran, Israel’s brutal new attack on Beirut does not signal Lebanon’s peace
In Washington on Wednesday morning, the talk was quiet. But in Beirut, it was the sound of Israeli missiles hitting more than 100 targets in less than 10 minutes.
In Lebanon, the first day of an armistice between Iran, Israel and the United States turned out to be the bloodiest of the war.
Although the final death toll is not clear, the Ministry of Health in Lebanon said that more than 100 people were killed and 800 were injured in multiple attacks that took place simultaneously from the air from the capital, Beirut, to many areas in the south of the country.
“People compare it to the pager attack because it happened at the same time,” said Makram Rabah, an assistant professor of history at the American University of Beirut.
The September 2024 attack on the pages of Israel’s secret service caused widespread panic across Lebanon after thousands of personal communication devices used by members of Hezbollah exploded, killing 14 soldiers but then leaving. thousands of people were injured.
In Rabah, Israel’s latest missile attack was not a long-range military operation; it was personal.
“They hit where I live, so these are places I’m familiar with. I’m not looking at a TV screen and seeing places I don’t know,” he told CBC News.
Emergency services were at the scene on Wednesday after an Israeli strike in Beirut’s Corniche al-Mazraa neighborhood. Israel has said that the recently announced ceasefire in the US-Israeli war with Iran does not apply to its fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite the Pakistani mediator’s assertion that the agreement covers Lebanon.
Operation ‘Eternal Darkness’
Israeli media called the latest operation “Operation Eternal Darkness.”
Although the IDF claimed it was targeting Hezbollah terrorists and their infrastructure, the apparent reality was one of civil unrest.
Ahmed Al Zoghbi, a 46-year-old taxi driver in Beirut’s Khandaq al-Ghamiq district, described when the strike hit near me: “I saw a motorcycle near me… the driver covered in dust and blood…. This is the most dangerous day since this war started.”
The timing of the Israeli strikes appears designed to send messages to both Iran and the United States, said Andreas Krieg of the School of Security Studies at King’s College London.
“Actually, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] he says Israel, no [mediator] Pakistan, or Washington or Tehran will decide the tempo in Lebanon,” said Krieg.
There has been a lot of confusion about who the ceasefire applies to.
U.S. President Donald Trump was quoted by a reporter for the U.S. public broadcaster PBS as saying that Lebanon is like a “separate conflict.”
Later, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt also said that Lebanon was not included. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that as far as he is concerned, Hezbollah is outside the ceasefire agreement.
However, Pakistani mediators who brokered the deal say Lebanon is too much included in the ceasefire agreement.
Krieg said the current situation is “hard” and that Israel’s actions could tear the entire deal apart.
Already, Iran has indicated that its agreement to allow “safe passage” for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been suspended, given Israel’s actions.
“There is a great risk that this could damage or destroy a comprehensive ceasefire agreement, but I would not say that the collapse is automatic,” Krieg said.
He said that the US and Iran want to avoid a return to direct confrontation, so it is possible that the US will put private pressure on Israel to reduce the intensity of future military strikes in order to keep the fighting in Lebanon “coherent.”
The cycle of war
Hezbollah and Israel have endured a multi-year cycle of repeated attacks followed by guerrilla warfare.
Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1982, leading to an 18-year invasion. The two sides fought a month-long war again in 2006, and following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the two sides fought again.
An often-violated ceasefire in November 2024 reduced the intensity of the war – briefly – but both sides resumed the war in March 2026 when the US and Israel attacked Iran and Hezbollah fired back at Israel.
Successive Israeli governments have demanded that Hezbollah be disarmed and that most of Lebanon south of the Litani River be demilitarized. Lebanon’s coalition government says it has finally started to make progress just before it was too late The US and Israel-Iran war came up.
A captured country
Israel’s underground forces currently occupy about ten percent of Lebanon’s territory and have caused worldwide condemnation by committing widespread and ongoing destruction of Shia Muslim villages.
The IDF also bombed important Lebanese infrastructure, such as bridges. More than a million Lebanese citizens have been turned into refugees in their homeland after Israel announced that they would no longer be allowed to return to their homes in the south.
In Israel, however, support for continuing the war against Hezbollah is strong.
“We do that to protect ourselves,” said Sarit Zehavi, president of the Alma Research and Education Center, who lives in northern Israel where Hezbollah’s rockets are located.
“There is a consensus in Israel between those who oppose Netanyahu and those who support Netanyahu that the issue of Hezbollah must be dealt with.”
However, human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized Israel’s actions in Lebanon.
They point to the seemingly inconsequential destruction of buildings by the military, the repeated killings of Lebanese journalists and health workers, and the mass displacement of civilians.
In the wake of Wednesday’s massive death toll, Médecins Sans Frontières issued another heartbreaking statement, saying “indiscriminate strikes in populated areas are totally unacceptable.”
Makram Rabah, a Beirut-based historian, described Lebanon as a country occupied by Israel and Hezbollah.
“I believe that if the war with Iran did not happen, Netanyahu would have started the war anyway, because many warnings to disarm Hezbollah and prevent their guards from controlling Lebanon fell on their ears,” said Rabah.
He also criticized his criticism of Hezbollah, saying that its soldiers are hiding from the people places “reinforce sectarian tensions” as these communities feel threatened by their presence.
He says it is unlikely that any major power in the conflict – not Iran or the United States – would be interested in helping his country.
“The Iranians are just spying. They don’t care … these proxies [Hezbollah] they were created to provide and protect Iran, not the other way around.”
