As Israel keeps striking, Lebanese grapple with a ceasefire that isn鈥檛
| Alma el-Shaab and Beirut, Lebanon
The six missiles fired by an Israeli drone last week precisely perforated the walls of a Beirut apartment, blasting out two floors that rained car-crushing debris on the streets below and killing Hezbollah鈥檚 top military commander, Haytham Ali Tabatabai.
Vows of revenge echoed the next day through the cramped streets of Haret Hreik, the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut鈥檚 southern suburbs, as flag-waving Hezbollah supporters carried the coffins of Mr. Tabatabai and two other militia operatives to burial.
One year after a ceasefire ended 14 months of Israel-Hezbollah fighting 鈥� which left the Iran-backed Shiite militia deeply shaken and weakened 鈥� the Israeli military continues an overshadowing presence across Lebanon. Almost daily, Israel strikes at targets ranging from Hezbollah鈥檚 fighters, weapons depots, and suspected arms factories, to construction equipment.
Why We Wrote This
A year after an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire, the Lebanese people are still caught in the middle. The ceasefire requires Hezbollah to disarm and Israel to withdraw. Neither has happened, even as Beirut works to fulfill its part of the bargain.
The conflict took some 4,000 Lebanese lives, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. Yet during the ceasefire, Israeli strikes have killed some 330 more, one-third of them civilians, according to the Lebanese Army.
For Lebanese, the sense of an ever-present Israel is felt uneasily, from drone-patrolled Beirut all the way to the south of the country. There, residents have also grown used to the gnawing buzz of drones 鈥� and now live cheek-by-jowl with five hill-top Israeli positions on seized Lebanese territory.
The result is the creation of a de facto Israeli buffer zone inside Lebanon, despite ceasefire conditions requiring Israel鈥檚 full withdrawal. Indeed, it mirrors Israel鈥檚 continued occupation of a border strip in southwest Syria, after the fall of Bashar al-Assad last December.
But Israeli officials and media 鈥� frustrated by Hezbollah鈥檚 refusal to disarm north of the Litani River, which is also required by the ceasefire 鈥� have in recent weeks stated that Israel plans renewed 鈥減reventive strikes鈥� against the militia.
鈥淭he way Israel has interpreted this ceasefire seems consistent with what is shaping up as a wider regional policy towards imposing de facto buffer zones with its neighbors that it doesn鈥檛 have comprehensive security agreements with,鈥� says David Wood, the Beirut-based senior Lebanon analyst for the International Crisis Group.
鈥淭here is a ceasefire in place, but in name only, given that Israel has reduced but not ceased its fire,鈥� he says.
Lebanese Army deploys south
The Lebanese Army has deployed 10,000 troops south of the Litani, cut off 11 smuggling routes, and now formally controls the border area, completing the first stage of a Hezbollah disarmament plan, as per the ceasefire, and mandated by the government last August. According to the Associated Press, the army holds 200 posts south of the river, and since September found 74 tunnels once used by Hezbollah, 175 rocket launchers, and 58 missiles.
Hezbollah maintains it is abiding by the ceasefire. But its top leaders also vow revenge for their losses, and will not discuss complete disarmament while Israel occupies Lebanese land.
鈥淭he Resistance stands firm, possessing what makes us as strong as mountains standing against fierce winds,鈥� Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said Friday, at a memorial for his slain military chief. 鈥淲e are ready to discuss the [national] defense strategy 鈥� not to relinquish our strength under any formula, and not to evade the current agreement.鈥�
The United Nations in the past year has tabulated more than 10,000 cross-border violations into Lebanon 鈥� most from Israeli drone flights.
Among Israeli targets have been cement factories as well as bulldozers and heavy construction equipment 鈥� including 300 pieces destroyed in a single set of strikes in October. Israel claimed the vehicles were Hezbollah 鈥渆ngineering equipment used to rebuild.鈥�
鈥淚srael has very deliberately targeted efforts to rebuild,鈥� says Mr. Wood. 鈥淚srael will point, always, to the fact that the ceasefire agreement acknowledges both Lebanon and Israel鈥檚 inherent right to self-defense, but Israel has deliberately adopted a very broad definition.
鈥淚n the early days of the ceasefire, we heard a lot about Israel responding to an 鈥榠mminent threat,鈥� [but] Hezbollah hasn鈥檛 fired a shot at Israel for a year now.鈥�
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the assassinated Mr. Tabatabai had led efforts to rearm, and that 鈥淚srael will not allow Hezbollah to rebuild its power and we will not allow it to pose a threat 鈥� again.鈥�
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel is 鈥渄etermined to continue the policy of maximum enforcement in Lebanon and elsewhere.鈥�
Strikes haven鈥檛 stopped
At the Beirut funeral, a grim reminder of the heavy toll already taken against Hezbollah could be seen in the wounds of one drummer in the marching band. He was injured when thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies, secretly rigged with explosives by Israel, were detonated in September 2024.
Those blasts killed or immobilized many of the militia鈥檚 members, and marked the start of an Israeli onslaught that killed nearly all its top leaders 鈥� including the widely revered Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah 鈥� and ravaged its arsenal of more than 150,000 missiles and rockets.
Such a devastating assault was not what Hezbollah expected when it began limited rocket strikes into Israel in October 2023, in solidarity with its ally Hamas鈥� lethal cross-border attack on Israel from Gaza.
鈥淭here has never been a true cease-in-fire,鈥� says Kandice Ardiel, spokeswoman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which has monitored southern Lebanon since 1978. 鈥淲e are not seeing Hezbollah military activity south of the Litani. ... We have not seen anything militarily that has been rebuilt. We have not observed that.鈥�
Still, tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians have not been able to return home. And while Israel has demonstrated a granular degree of intelligence regarding Hezbollah, some Israeli explanations of its actions confuse Lebanese.
The Israeli army鈥檚 Arabic spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, for example, recently warned on social media that Israel had detected 鈥渄ozens of terrorist infrastructures鈥� built by Hezbollah in the southern village of Beit Lif. Alarmed locals summoned the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL to demonstrate that they should not be targeted.
鈥淚n Beit Lif it caused a panic, because people were saying it is not true. People called the army and said, 鈥楥ome to our houses and check, and you will see,鈥欌�� says Ms. Ardiel.
鈥淧eople have come back to Naqoura and Alma el-Shaab,鈥� she says, referring to two villages on the hill above UNIFIL headquarters, 鈥渁nd some villages, but right along the Blue Line [U.N.-demarcated Lebanon-Israel border] people are afraid. And with these five Israeli positions and the inflammatory rhetoric from both sides, it doesn鈥檛 give people a sense of security.鈥�
The Shiite village of Naqoura survived the war largely intact, but now barely a house remains standing and the mosque is destroyed 鈥� with most damage done by occupying Israeli troops after the ceasefire.
鈥淭rying to stay on the sidelines鈥�
Further up the hill but only partially wrecked is the 海角大神 village of Alma el-Shaab. Residents say that, after they fled last autumn, Hezbollah fighters moved in to battle Israel, and Israeli forces then occupied the town for four months.
Those Israeli troops have withdrawn south to an outpost visible from the village, not far from a new Lebanese Army position. But 海角大神s who have returned, like Sami Btaich, whose house was used by both Israelis and Hezbollah, feel Israel鈥檚 proximity.
He returned to a home filled with trash, filth, and wartime stains. A Star of David was spray-painted on the nearby church.
Mr. Btaich says Hezbollah later came to retrieve bodies and left mines and detonation wire in sacks in his home.
鈥淲e are trying to stay on the sidelines, not with Hezbollah or Israel, [but] we still get slapped by both,鈥� says Mr. Btaich. 鈥淲e have nothing to do with this war, but look what happened to us.鈥�
Dug-in Israeli tank positions and trash remain. Graffiti left by the Israelis reads: 鈥淲e are not here against you [海角大神s], but unfortunately we need to come here, because Hezbollah is here.鈥�
Mostly, it is the frequent buzz of drones that signals Israel鈥檚 omnipresence. Any movement attracts a drone. Mr. Btaich recalls one coming 鈥渞ight in front of my face鈥� while he worked on his car a year ago.
鈥淲e are living extra careful. It鈥檚 risky, it鈥檚 dangerous, but we have to live with it,鈥� he says. He believes Israel will establish a 1,000-yard-deep buffer zone as a 鈥渘ew border for them.鈥�
鈥淭hey think Lebanon and Syria are part of their land,鈥� says Mr. Btaich. 鈥淭rust me, the Israelis are going nowhere. 鈥� I feel there is another round [of fighting] coming. Nobody can stop them.鈥�
