On Tuesday, the Lebanese Army Command decided to resume patrolling the area south of the Litani River in coordination with UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon).
The presence of the Lebanese army is symbolic. Hezbollah controls the entire south of Lebanon © LMD
On Tuesday, the Lebanese Army Command decided to resume patrolling the area south of the Litani River in coordination with UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon).
Its troops’ operations were suspended three days ago when the two forces’ joint patrol came under fire from Israel, close to Aita al-Shaab, in Bint Jbeil district.
According to a European diplomatic source, these patrols, which have been reduced to a strict minimum since the start of cross-border fighting in southern Lebanon in October, are vital to the army’s agenda, as the military institution has been trying from the outset to demonstrate “neutrality” in the conflict — distinguishing itself from Hezbollah and its actions.
The Lebanese government has suffered a catastrophic loss of credibility. Just months ago, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam confidently announced the near-total disarmament of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and along the Israeli borde, a declaration welcomed by Western capitals eager to believe the region was stepping back from the brink.
Hezbollah’s decision to enter the Middle East war in support of its patron Iran has opened a rift with its main political ally at home in Lebanon, leaving the group deeply isolated as the country lurches into another devastating conflict with Israel.
An Israeli strike on a four-storey residential building has killed at least four people and wounded six others in the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek with rescue teams working to pull families from beneath the rubble, state news agency NNA said on Wednesday.
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