In Video: Israeli ‘Fire Belt’ Hits Southern Lebanon

Illustrative image. (Israeli Defense Forces)

A violent wave of Israeli strikes hit on August 31 Lebanon’s southern region, the heartland of Hezbollah, causing fires and material losses. 

In a statement, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said that the strikes, carried out by the Israeli Air Force, targeted “military infrastructure, including underground infrastructure” of Hezbollah in the Beaufort Ridge area of the Nabatiyeh Governorate where activities by the group had been identified.

“The existence of the sites and the activity within them constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon” that were reached with help from the United States in November, ending a period of open conflict, the military added.

Lebanon’s official National News Agency said that at least ten strikes hit wooded areas in the outskirts of the towns of Ali Al-Taher and Kfar Tebnit in Nabatieh, describing the aerial attack as a “fire belt.” The agency reported forest fires and material losses, but no casualties.

Just two days earlier, the IDF announced that Ahmad Naeem Maatouk, a member of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, was killed in a drone strike on the town of Sir El Gharbiyeh, just north of the Litani River in southern Lebanon. According to the military, Maatouk served as operations officer in a Radwan battalion and advanced multiple attacks against Israel during the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that ended with the November 27 ceasefire agreement.

The latest Israeli strikes came as the Lebanese government pledged to take steps to disarm Hezbollah. The group has so far refused to cooperate.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, who has been leading the efforts, said last week that the government is expected on August 31 to come up with a plan to convince Hezbollah to disarm.

Hezbollah will not likely accept any plan the Lebanese government could present as it fundamentally refuses to disarm, not just because of the threat posed by Israel, but also because of the growing threat of Syria’s new Islamists rulers.

The government will face tough options. Either going to a confrontation with Hezbollah will almost certainly lead to a civil war, or declare that the group is not cooperative, and by that open the door for a new Israeli attack, possibly including a ground operation, in the country.

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