Broad Israeli escalation in Lebanon: raids on Naqoura and destruction of schools in Bint Jbeil
Villages and towns in southern Lebanon witnessed a violent escalation on the ground and military by the Israeli occupation army on Friday, July 17, represented by a series of violent airstrikes and the implementation of extensive blowing up of houses and educational facilities, coinciding with complex and highly sensitive political movements and security negotiations.
Israel preceded the session of the virtual military negotiations that were expected with Lebanon today by intensifying its field strikes to put pressure on the Lebanese delegation, as reports received from southern Lebanon reported that the occupation drones and planes launched intensive raids targeting the towns of Naqoura, Al-Mansouri, Shawkin, and Mifdoun, in addition to artillery shelling on the Jal Shehab area under Ali Al-Taher Hill in the Nabatieh district.
Three raids carried out by an Israeli drone on the Naqoura road led to the fall of one wounded, in conjunction with the Israeli forces carrying out a huge explosion to blow up the "Mahdi Schools" building in the area of Saf al-Hawa in the city of Bint Jbeil, and to blow up a number of residential houses around it, and to carry out two other explosions in the vicinity of the town of Kafr Tibnit, and another violent explosion targeted the outskirts of Aita al-Jabal in the town of Hadatha.
Postponement of Military Negotiations
On the diplomatic and security front, the virtual military negotiation session, which was supposed to be held on Friday via Zoom between military delegations from Lebanon, Israel and the United States of America, was postponed, and informed sources attributed the reasons for the postponement to technical issues and thorny research topics, in addition to the time difference between Beirut and Washington.
The session was dedicated to discussing the executive steps and security arrangements related to the "pilot zones", which were initially proposed to include the towns of Eastern and Western Zuterin, Froun, Al-Ghandouriya, Qalawiya, Burj Qalawiya, and Sarifa, which are unoccupied towns with the exception of Eastern Zuter, on whose outskirts the occupation is concentrated, and the western Zuter, which is under its control by fire, north of the Litani River.
In a pre-emptive step, the Lebanese Army conducted intensive patrols and set up checkpoints and military observation points in the towns of Froun, Al-Ghandouriya, Qalawiya, Borj Qalawiya, Kafr Dounin, Qaqa'iya Al-Jisr and Sarifa to emphasize that these areas are under the sovereignty of the Lebanese state and not under occupation, expressing its preference for the experimental areas to be within the fully occupied villages to secure the return of the displaced people to them.
Strategic Points of Contention and Israeli Intransigence
The most prominent points of contention that Lebanon rejects and the Lebanese military delegation seeks to establish are: strict adherence to the ceasefire, refusal to grant Israel freedom of movement or entry and search of homes, and adherence to a specific timetable for gradual withdrawal, as the Lebanese army refuses to coordinate directly with the occupation and prefers to coordinate through the Military Coordination Committee (MTC4L) under the supervision of the US Central Command (CENTCOM).
On the other hand, Tel Aviv is procrastinating in implementing any withdrawal and treats the security zone on the border as a permanent reality under its control, as the Hebrew newspaper "Maariv" revealed that the Israeli army has begun building a line of permanent positions and fortifications inside Lebanese territory, which Israeli Defense Minister Yisrael Katz confirmed to his American counterpart Pete Hegseth, stressing Israel's intention to remain in the "security zones" it has established inside Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip to protect its borders.
This coincides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of U.S. pressure to set a timetable for withdrawal within six months, and his instead seeking the green light to carry out military operations deep inside southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah positions and withdraw its weapons before handing them over to the Lebanese army, which Lebanon categorically rejects. This behavior also intersects with Israel's actions in southern Syria and its refusal to withdraw to the 1974 disengagement line.
UN briefing and Aoun's upcoming visit to the White House
In the context of political positions, Hezbollah's media relations categorically denied the news attributed to its officials on issues raised before the president, stressing the firmness of the party's declared position in terms of participating in supporting Gaza and its absolute rejection of direct negotiations with the Israeli enemy.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun is preparing to make a "quick" official visit to the White House to meet with US President Donald Trump, and Aoun expresses reassurance about the results of this visit, through which he aims to convey Lebanon's complaint about Israeli intransigence and aggression, extract promises of a comprehensive Israeli withdrawal, and discuss holding an international conference in support of the Lebanese Army.
At the international level, the Acting Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jean Arnault, and the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, briefed the UN Security Council on the implementation of Resolution 1701, in which they warned of the widespread destruction and large displacement resulting from the continued Israeli military presence and the escalation of hostilities since March 2, reaffirming the UN's support for the tripartite framework (Lebanon, Israel, and the United States) agreed on June 26 to reduce tensions, and stressing that the Lebanese army is the pillar The basic for the extension of state power.
In a related context, German Foreign Minister Johan Fadiful proposed to study the delegation of an EU military force in Lebanon to replace the International Peacekeeping Mission (UNIFIL), whose current mandate expires on December 31, 2026, in order to prevent any security vacuum in the region, considering that Lebanon, with a stable government, represents one of the most promising developments in the region.