There's supposed to be a 3-week Lebanon ceasefire in effect, but that increasingly appears something merely on paper or in name only, as Israel has stepped up and expanded its attacks on Lebanon - now for the first time of the ceasefire including strikes on the far away Beqaa Valley.
"The IDF says it has launched a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in the Beqaa Valley and several areas of southern Lebanon," Israeli media confirms Monday. "The strikes come following repeated Hezbollah attacks on IDF troops and Israel during the ceasefire, including a deadly drone attack yesterday," Times of Israel says.
The fresh reporting emphasizes that "Israel has not struck in Lebanon’s eastern Beqaa Valley in some three weeks."
The IDF says its response was necessary as it has been Hezbollah breaking the ceasefire with attacks on Israeli ground forces, but Hezbollah has justified that these troops occupy sovereign Lebanese territory and so are fair game to be targeted.
It was only late last week that President Trump publicly announced a breakthrough Lebanon ceasefire deal of three weeks, saying it is necessary also to "protect" Lebanon "from Hezbollah".
But Hezbollah itself has not participated in the Washington-backed talks between the Israeli and Lebanese governments, seeing in it a deceitful plan to put more distance between the Iran-backed paramilitary group and the Lebanese nation and people.
In the meantime, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has told a meeting of representatives from villages in southern Lebanon that negotiating with Israel "is not betrayal" - but is necessary for ensuring peace and stability.
The president, a Maronite Catholic, stated instead that "Betrayal is carried out by those who take their country to war to serve foreign interests."
Aoun said: "How long will the people of the south continue to pay the price for the wars of others on our land? If the war were for Lebanon, we would support it - but when its purpose is to serve the interests of others, I reject the war entirely."
The remarks appeared a response to Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem's own Monday statement reiterating that the group would not give up its weapons and blasting deal-making with Israel as a "grave sin". After all, while the IDF obliterates entire towns and villages in the south, Hezbollah's supporters argue there's no one to protect them, and certainly the Lebanese Army won't step up.
Qassem further accused some politicians in in Lebanon of seeking to "reap gains at the expense of the destruction" of the country.
The war goes back to the wake of Oct.7, 2023 and Gaza war. But Hezbollah's entry was also renewed following Trump's Operation Epic Fury. So Hezbollah has successively joined the fight both related to the Palestinian and the Iranians. Israel has unleashed a series of massive bombing waves on the capital Beirut, and many ordinary Lebanese have chaffed at being so quickly dragged into a broader regional war.