“No respite. Since dawn, Israeli raids have not weakened… Written this Wednesday, May 27, the Lebanese daily The Orient-The Day in his live broadcast, while Israel has been fighting for more than thirty-six hours against Hezbollah, intensifying its strikes and expanding its ground operations beyond the self-proclaimed buffer zone.
During the day of Tuesday, more than 120 bombings fell on the south of the country, notably on the regions of Nabatieh and Tyre, two strongholds of the pro-Iran militia, as well as on the Bekaa valley (East), leaving at least 31 dead, including four children, summarizes the French-speaking daily. Since the start of the conflict, nearly 3,200 people have died, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
This sudden escalation comes after the war-like declarations, on May 25, of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who “demandé à accélérer†the blows dealt to the “party of God†, as the United States and Iran attempt to finalize the terms of an agreement to end the war in the Middle East.
Multiple evacuation orders and “close” fighting
Until now, the IDF carried out almost daily strikes, despite a ceasefire signed on April 16, but these were more scattered and of lower intensity. Hezbollah responded with drone fire, some landing in the zone occupied by Israel, others inside Israeli territory.
But since yesterday, the tension has increased a notch on the ground. “In less than three hours, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of more than 50 villages in South Lebanon […] as well as the city of Nabatieh […] for the first time since April 16… notes the Israeli daily Ha’Aretz.
These calls caused panic, reports the BBC, pushing many residents to flee, while more than a million people, almost a quarter of the population, have already been displaced since Hezbollah entered the war on March 2.
At the same time, the Israeli army attempted several incursions into new villages. Of the “Close fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah took place (this Wednesday) in Zaoutar El-Charqiyé, north of Litani, a village outside the ‘buffer zone’†, noted The Orient-The Day.
Dissociating the Lebanese front from that of Iran?
One of Israel’s security objectives is to expand the area it occupies in southern Lebanon in order to prevent suicide drones from reaching border villages. But in more strategic terms, the operation aims above all to dissociate the Lebanese front from that of Iran and to send a message to this effect to Tehran, a few days before a possible “deal” with the United States.
An objective quite widely shared by the American administration. According to the Israeli press, the intensification of Israeli operations would have received the blessing of Washington, which would nevertheless have “warned against any strike in Beirut, fearing it could compromise negotiations†underway with Iran, indicates The Times of Israel.
At the same time, and with this aim of dissociating the fronts, the United States has sponsored direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel since April, independent of the diplomatic circuit linked to the conflict in Iran. A new meeting between Israeli and Lebanese officials is planned in Washington on June 2 and 3, preceded by a meeting of military personnel from the two countries at the Pentagon on May 29.
