Israel bombards the country of Lebanon. Lebanon finds itself at the heart of the war in the Middle East since March 2nd, when the pro-Iranian Shiite movement Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel in response to the death of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, during the Israeli-American offensive against Iran launched two days earlier. Most of the over 2,000 deaths recorded by the authorities of the different parties involved have occurred in Iran and Lebanon in two weeks of conflict.
On Sunday, March 15, the human toll increased as the Hezbollah, whose armed branch is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union, claimed to have targeted the Palmachim airbase in central Israel with a “sophisticated missile”. Israel, in turn, continues its extensive campaign of airstrikes on Lebanese territory.
France closely monitors this situation. “We must help the Lebanese army to have the means of its action” to disarm Hezbollah, “and this can only be done if there is a ceasefire,” said Jean-Yves Le Drian, the current Commissioner of Emmanuel Macron for Lebanon on Thursday. On Saturday, the President of the Republic supported the opening of direct talks with Israel and proposed to facilitate them. Franceinfo revisits the situation in Lebanon in recent weeks.
The tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have been ongoing since 1982, the year of Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon. An occupation that lasted until 2000. Shortly after, Iran, Israel’s enemy, created a guerrilla group, the Party of God, “Hezbollah” in Arabic, and established a direct connection from Tehran to Beirut. The Lebanese Shiite movement calls for the destruction of Israel and pledges allegiance to the Iranian Supreme Leader. Since then, year after year, Hezbollah has expanded its political and economic influence within Lebanon, becoming a state within a state.
Hezbollah has members in the Lebanese parliament. With financial support from Iran, it has implemented social aid systems for the poorest populations in Lebanon, particularly the Shiites, who make up its voter base. It is deeply integrated into the population as it has foundations, schools, and health centers. It also spends money on the reconstruction of neighborhoods destroyed by fighting in southern Beirut, its stronghold, which its presence turns into a target for Israel.
However, this influence has declined since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas in Israel, and the subsequent war launched in Gaza. Hezbollah then supported its Palestinian ally, and another front opened in Lebanon. Israeli strikes weakened Hezbollah, especially after the death of Hassan Nasrallah, the emblematic leader of the Shiite militia, in the fall of 2024. Shortly after, a ceasefire was signed, without completely ending the Israeli strikes. “It was obvious, before [the attack launched by Hezbollah in early March], that Israeli political and military leaders were looking for a pretext to resume the war,” explained Yezid Sayigh, a Palestinian researcher at the Middle East office of the Carnegie Foundation, in Le Monde.
The death of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the first day of the war in Iran reignited the conflict in Lebanon. Since March 2, the Shiite movement has fired missiles and drones at Israel to avenge its ally. The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, assured on Tuesday: the goal is the destruction of Hezbollah, once and for all. Friday night, the current Hezbollah leader, Na’im Qassem, retaliated by speaking of an “existential battle” against Israel, claiming to be in “a long confrontation.”
Since March 2, over 830,000 people have been displaced, according to the latest figures released by the Lebanese authorities. At least 300,000 of them are refugees within Lebanon, according to a March 6 report from the Norwegian Refugee Council. Before the bombings, the Israeli army systematically orders residents to evacuate, often to the northern part of the country. Other residents of Lebanon have fled to neighboring countries, such as Syria.
The latest figures, dated Sunday, report 850 deaths and 2,105 injuries. The Israeli army says it is carrying out strikes targeting Hezbollah and sometimes positions of the Palestinian Hamas. But its strikes also hit residential buildings and health centers, causing civilian casualties. “Drones continue to fly over villages, houses explode, farmers are taken away,” explains a sociologist specializing in Hezbollah in the Canadian media Le Devoir. Meanwhile, Hezbollah continues to strike Israel, particularly villages near the border between the two countries where Israeli soldiers are deployed.
This situation divides the Lebanese, who oscillate between weariness and anger, depending on the community they belong to among the numerous ones that make up the country’s population. Most Shiites still support Hezbollah, as do some Sunnis, as explained by Lebanese people to France 2, but others turn away from it. Among Christians, criticisms are more openly expressed, but many refuse to leave their homes. They are, however, not spared from Israeli strikes, as reported by La Croix, which visited a Christian village in southern Lebanon.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun finds himself as an arbiter of this conflict, but without the means to intervene. He accused Hezbollah this week of working towards “the collapse of Lebanon” on behalf of Iran. The Lebanese government banned the military and security activities of the party on March 2.
At the same time, Michel Aoun demands an end to Israeli strikes and wants to start negotiations with the Israeli state. He also requests logistical assistance so that the Lebanese army can deploy in conflict zones and “disarm Hezbollah.” This war exacerbates the crisis that Lebanon is facing, already strangled economically and paralyzed politically. The legislative elections, scheduled for May, have been postponed for two years.
In addition to its extensive campaign of airstrikes, the Israeli army has made progress on the ground in Lebanese territory for two weeks, and clashes have even pitted its soldiers against Hezbollah fighters. The Israeli army has expressed its intention to create a “buffer zone” between the two countries. But Israel also threatens to go further, with a large-scale ground operation, according to the American media Axios. Based on Israeli and American sources, it reported on Saturday that Israel is considering “broadening significantly” its ground operation, “with the aim of seizing the entire area south of the Litani River.” A map circulated in Arabic by Israel asks residents of South Lebanon to evacuate the area, but the tanks, stationed further south, have not yet been set in motion.
The threat of a ground attack is taken “very seriously” by the Lebanese government, confirmed on France Inter on Saturday by Lebanon’s Minister of Culture, Ghassan Salame. “We are afraid of an escalation that would affect the country’s civilian installations (…) and, secondly, that there would be a large-scale ground attack because there are significant concentrations of Israeli troops moving towards northern Israel,” said the former UN envoy.
The Lebanese army would not be able to stop such an operation, as it does not have the means, the minister acknowledged. It also does not have the capacity to carry out the disarmament of Hezbollah, according to him. Lebanon is seeking to form a delegation to negotiate directly with its neighboring country. Emmanuel Macron proposed to host talks in Paris. However, the Israeli Foreign Minister affirmed on Sunday that no direct negotiations with Beirut are planned for the time being.
