Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Friday that the Israeli army “has crossed the Litani River and advanced to control positions” located north of the riverbed. The leader thus confirms that the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory, which until yesterday extended to 5% of the country, now covers new latitudes amid a ceasefire imposed by the United States on April 17 ―although it only exists on paper and grants the Hebrew troops broad freedom of action against the Lebanese party-militia Hezbollah―.
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The Israeli leader announced the ground progress beyond the line marked by the Litani, whose course flows at a distance from Israel of between five and 30 kilometers. The announcement comes as Israeli soldiers have been deployed in that area for days, attempting to widen the buffer zone between the pro-Iranian militia positions and Israel’s northern border. Netanyahu’s announcement coincides with the resumption, this Friday, of dialogue between the Israeli and Lebanese administrations in Washington to solidify the current ceasefire.
The Lebanese government, the furthest from Hezbollah in decades and the first in history to commit to disarming the armed wing of the militia-party, a goal decreed last year, sits at the negotiating table with the end of hostilities as the only item on the agenda.
The Israeli offensive, which has been escalating in violence for days and simultaneously bombing dozens of municipalities, has killed 32 more people in the last hours, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, and a total of 3,355 Lebanese (234 of them minors and 127 healthcare workers) since last March, when Hezbollah fired on Israel in support of Iran, reopening the war front in Lebanon.
Israel has also gradually erased with controlled explosions 55 Lebanese border villages it occupied, and has declared the entire south of the Arab country a “combat zone,” while forcibly displacing more than a quarter of the national population (1.2 million inhabitants) from their homes and sources of income. A context that Beirut sees as incompatible with the rapprochement and dialogue demanded by the negotiation.
“President Joseph Aoun emphasized the need to redouble efforts to achieve a ceasefire,” a statement from the Lebanese presidency said on Friday. The note reflected a phone call with Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State and manager of successive rounds of contact that have extended the ceasefire started in April. The complete truce, the president added, is “an indispensable requirement” to explore other issues.
The Lebanese delegation attending the Pentagon on Friday, where a military meeting will take place before political representatives resume contacts next Tuesday, arrives at the meeting “with clear instructions.” Lebanese representatives told British television Sky News Arabia on condition of anonymity: “Any point not related to stopping hostilities and consolidating the truce is not subject to debate,” the sources concluded.
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Bombings preparing the advance
Despite these claims, the influence capacity of the Lebanese negotiators is uncertain compared to the Israeli side, which plays with an advantage diplomatically, where its US ally acts as mediator and arbitrator, and militarily, where air force bombings prepare the territory for the ground advance.
This is what has been happening in Zautar al Sharqiye, a territory above the Litani River. The Israeli army has been maneuvering there for days, approaching the southern city of Nabatie, with 75,000 residents. Netanyahu confirmed the deployment this Friday, after securing positions, to advance his objectives while Washington and Tehran engage in a diplomatic process parallel to the Lebanese-Israeli one that could clip Israel’s wings.
The Litani River divides southern Lebanon ―a traditional Hezbollah stronghold and the northern border of the area where UN peacekeepers remain deployed― from the rest of the country, making control of the area allow Israel to isolate it from the north and prevent the arrival of Hezbollah militants and weapons. In the weeks before the current ceasefire, the Israeli army bombed the bridges crossing the Litani to hinder the movement of the pro-Iranian militia, also affecting civilians.
In the last hours, Israeli armored vehicles are believed to have reached Nabatie el Fawqa, a municipality just two kilometers from the capital of the homonymous Nabatie municipality. This entire area lies south of the Zahrani River, where Israel has imposed a general expulsion order since Thursday, but some hospitals covering an increasingly isolated and deserted southern territory continue to operate in the city.
Precisely, the Lebanese news agency reports multiple bombings on Nabatie el Fawqa and other points south of Nabatie this Friday. Further east, tanks have been spotted inside Dibbine, a majority Shia Muslim municipality —the confession professed by Hezbollah and predominant in the villages where the group receives support―. The Israeli entry into the area, located 10 kilometers from the unofficial border with Israel, comes after intense bombings, now replaced by apparent controlled detonations. This is the tactic Israel has used in dozens of border villages to destroy urban landscapes and forests, arguing to prevent Hezbollah hideouts and create what it describes as a security buffer zone.
Due to these attacks, a statement from the Lebanese electric company lamented power outages in municipalities and medical centers in the region, affecting water pumping stations. The note adds that operators cannot reach the territory for security reasons.
