Hezbollah rejected a proposal to evacuate Ali Al-Taher ridge — which sits north of the Litani River and is part of the strategic high ground around Nabatiyeh — and transfer it to the Lebanese army. In other words, Hezbollah challenged Lebanese sovereignty. Subsequently, Hezbollah lost control of the ridge to the Israeli army, which established operational control and destroyed the group’s tunnels and underground facilities.

This standpoint should not come as a surprise, but it proved once again that Hezbollah is not a resistance movement but an insurrectionist organization against the state of Lebanon. There is no other description. Hezbollah’s first enemy is a strong and stable Lebanese state.

This action was also an indirect rejection of the Lebanese government’s plan to disarm Hezbollah and of the US-sponsored Lebanese-Israeli framework for Israel’s withdrawal. While Ali Al-Taher was not one of the original pilot zones, it was discussed as a possibility and the opportunity to avoid continued fighting in the area existed. Hezbollah ultimately chose to see the Israeli flag fly over Lebanon instead of the Lebanese one.

So, while Lebanon is seeking to achieve real peace with Israel and exit the never-ending cycle of violence and death, Hezbollah is seeking the opposite. It wants to........

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