As tit-for-tat strikes strain a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah less than a week since it went into effect, Israel’s defense minister on Tuesday threatened to directly target the Lebanese state should the agreement fall apart.
Monday was the deadliest day since that agreement came into force last Wednesday, with Israeli strikes killing nine in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fired at Israeli-occupied territory, citing Israeli truce violations.
“If we return to war, we will act with strength, go deeper,” Israel Katz said during a visit on Tuesday to the 146th Division of the Israel Defense Forces, near the Lebanese border.
Were the ceasefire to collapse, he said, “there will no longer be any exemptions for the State of Lebanon. If until now we separated the State of Lebanon from Hezbollah – and the entirety of Beirut from Dahiyeh, which took very hard hits – this will no longer be the case.”
The exchange of fire casts doubt on the longevity of the ceasefire brokered by the United States – though State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller insisted on Monday that “we have not seen the ceasefire break down.”
Both the American and French governments have privately told Israel that they believe it is violating the agreement, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position in the defense ministry, said in an interview with Israel’s Kan radio. The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said Israel had breached the ceasefire agreement “approximately 100” times since the truce went into effect.
“Both the French and the Americans didn’t really like it,” Smotrich said, referring to Israeli strikes on Lebanon since the truce. “But the IDF, in the days since the ceasefire, is enforcing it in a very determined way, both against Hezbollah and against civilians who are trying to return to villages in the border area without permission.”
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