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While the whole world anxiously awaits a final peace deal between the United States and Iran amid staggered negotiations, occasional tit-for-tat retaliatory strikes and threats and counter threats, a far more complex dynamic of war and peace is unfolding in Lebanon.

Israel’s escalating military operations in Lebanon, thanks to Benjamin Netanyahu’s substantial appetite for war and occupation, have previously forced Iran to suspend negotiations with the US. The latest fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defence Forces is a consequence of the unprovoked joint US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28, 2026. Israel launched a full-scale invasion of southern Lebanon after Hezbollah’s attack on northern Israel, on March 2, aimed to express solidarity with Iran.

However, the complexity of the Lebanese situation and position operates at various levels. First, Israel has now embarked upon the occupation of southern Lebanon for the second time in just over two-and-a-half decades to create a so-called security zone or a Gaza model “yellow line”, stretching from the south of the Litani River to the Israel-Lebanon border. This, it says, is to prevent Hezbollah from firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israeli towns.

As against this declared objective, Israel’s air strikes and ground operations have been targeting east and south Lebanon as well. The IDF has carried out attacks as far as the southern suburbs of Beirut and crossed the Litani River beyond the “security zone”, moving further north till the Zahrani River. After intense fighting with Hezbollah, the Israeli forces even captured the strategically important 12th century Crusader-built Beaufort castle near Nabatiyeh. The castle overlooks both Litani and the Galilee in Israel.

FILE: Litani River as it flows through the village........

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