Broad Israeli escalation in southern Lebanon and US sanctions on the Lebanese army
The southern Lebanese front witnessed an accelerated escalation on the ground and politics, as the Israeli occupation army continued to carry out intensive raids and attacks on several towns and areas, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries, in successive violations of the fragile ceasefire agreement announced since April 17 and its subsequent extensions.
This deterioration on the ground coincided with Washington's entry into the crisis line by imposing unprecedented sanctions on army and public security officers and deputies, prompting firm official reactions from the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) leadership, amid complex anticipation of an upcoming security meeting at the Pentagon.
Intensive Strikes and Civilian and Medicaid Casualties
On the ground, Israeli planes and drones continued their successive raids on the villages and towns of the districts of Sur and Bint Jbeil, in addition to the areas of Chakra, Tol, Haboush, Aita al-Jabal, Tibnin, Haris, Majdal Salem, Qasimiya, Shohour, Joya, and Kafra, amid the continuation of the daily repeated Israeli warnings to the residents to evacuate their villages, which imposes a security zone with fire and reflects the truce practically out of circulation.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health counted the final toll of the Deir Qanun al-Nahr massacre, which amounted to 14 martyrs, including four children, one of them a Syrian national and three women, in addition to six others who were killed in a separate raid on the same town, including two paramedics from the "Islamic Message" association affiliated with the Amal movement and a Syrian girl.
Lebanese sources said that this escalation came hours after four members of Hezbollah's "Islamic Health Authority" medics were killed in a night raid on the town of Hinnawieh, while a motorcycle march was targeted in the northern tower, which led to the martyrdom of a young man, and five martyrs were killed in a raid on the Al-Baraka neighborhood in the town of Al-Dweir.
Defensive Operations and Israeli Admission of Casualties
In the context of the response, Hezbollah stepped up the pace of its field operations, announcing clashes and confronting Israeli incursion attempts in southern towns, as part of 24 military operations targeting concentrations of Israeli soldiers and vehicles, using rocket launches, artillery shells, and pounced drones.
The party said in a statement today that it carried out a large-scale fire raid on Israeli army positions in the towns of Dabal and Rashaf and the vicinity of the town of Hadada, with pounced drones, heavy rocket launches, in repeated batches.
In this context, the Israeli occupation forces admitted that seven military personnel, including two officers, a brigade commander and a female soldier, were seriously, moderate and lightly wounded, following the explosion of two booby-trapped drones in southern Lebanon, with the official figures of the occupation army indicating that 1015 military personnel (including 57 seriously wounded) have been injured since the launch of Operation "Roar of Assad" on February 28 against Iran and Lebanon.
US Sanctions and Lebanese Reactions
The US Treasury Department has sanctioned nine individuals in Lebanon for "obstructing the peace process and impeding the disarmament of Hezbollah," including Iran's ambassador to Beirut, Hezbollah lawmakers, and figures from the Amal movement, as well as two Lebanese officers, the head of the National Security Department in the General Security, Brig. Gen. Khattar Nasser al-Din, and the head of the southern suburbs branch of the Intelligence Directorate, Colonel Samer Hamadeh, for sharing intelligence with the party during the conflict.
In its first official comment on this unprecedented action against Lebanese military personnel, the Lebanese Armed Forces Command stressed that the loyalty of its soldiers is "to the military institution and the country only", stressing that all officers and elements perform their national duties professionally and with discipline in accordance with the directives of the leadership and away from any pressure.
The leadership clarified that it was not informed of the US decision through the approved channels before it was announced, while Hezbollah denounced the move as a blatant intimidation attempt to subject the country to the conditions of American tutelage.
The recent U.S. sanctions on military intelligence and GSS officers represent a dangerous precedent in the course of U.S.-Lebanese relations, as Washington has for many years provided financial and logistical support to the Lebanese army as a pillar of stability and a guarantee of the implementation of UN Resolution 1701.
Diplomatic preparations and debate over the Pentagon meeting
Politically: Lebanese Prime Minister Dr. Nawaf Salam discussed with Ambassador Simon Karam the preparatory steps for the next two rounds of diplomatic negotiations, at a time when internal political debate is taking shape related to the Lebanese-Israeli security meeting scheduled to be held at the Pentagon on May 29, amid disagreements over the composition of the military delegation and its agenda.
The military refused to prepare the agenda outside the framework of national constants and the reality on the ground related to the Israeli aggression, as it prepared a file that included the army's plan to deploy in the south and limit weapons to the state.
Follow-up sources confirmed the delegation's rejection of any Israeli dictates or conditions or the inclusion of a military item related to weapons, amid an expected communication movement to unify the Lebanese position, despite the "duo's" insistence on stopping negotiations unless Israel adheres to the ceasefire.
This escalation on the ground reflects the practical collapse of the ceasefire agreement announced on April 17, and despite repeated announcements of an extension of the truce, the ongoing Israeli violations and the imposition of a land and air embargo turned the agreement into ink on paper, and this coincided with the transfer of diplomatic weight to the US-Iranian negotiations underway behind the scenes in the Pakistani capital Islamabad to determine the fate of the front.