The 38-day US-Israel war on Iran came to an abrupt halt on Tuesday night with the announcement of a two-week ceasefire — but whether it extends to Lebanon remains a deeply contested question, setting the stage for continued escalation on that front.

Iran has warned it could resume fighting if Israel continues to strike Hezbollah, insisting its 10-point proposal submitted to the United States included a cessation of fighting in Lebanon. Pakistani mediators publicly echoed that claim, while Hezbollah signaled it would treat Israeli operations as a violation.

“The agreement includes Lebanon,” Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Al-Moussawi said, warning of a response from Iran and its allies if Israel did not comply.

Israel, however, has firmly rejected that narrative, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserting on Wednesday that Lebanon is not part of the deal.

Israel “will continue to strike Hezbollah wherever necessary,” Netanyahu said in a subsequent X post on Thursday.

US Vice President JD Vance, who is set to lead the US negotiating team in Islamabad, appeared to back Israel’s position, describing the dispute as a “legitimate misunderstanding” that led Iran to believe that Lebanon was covered by the ceasefire, while simultaneously noting Israel had offered to show some restraint in Lebanon to preserve negotiations.

“In any case, right now, it seems that there is no ceasefire on the Lebanese front,” Sarit Zehavi, head of the Alma Research and Education Center, which studies Israel’s security challenges in the north, told The Times of Israel. “Israel will continue attacking Hezbollah, and Hezbollah will continue attacking Israel.”

Indeed, there has been little sign of de-escalation. Within hours of the ceasefire announcement, Israel launched its largest wave of strikes yet against Hezbollah — some 160 bombs on 100 targets in just 10 minutes — underscoring that, ceasefire or not, the Lebanon front is far from quiet.

Those strikes continued into Thursday, with the IDF saying it struck weapon depots, rocket launchers and Hezbollah headquarters in south Lebanon.

Israel is also operating on the ground. The military says it aims to establish a demilitarized “security zone” in southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, and will remain deployed there until the Hezbollah threat is removed.

Hezbollah, for its part, responded to........

© The Times of Israel