Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 29.08.2026
The Lebanese army has been stationed in two villages in the south under an agreement with Israel initiated by Trump. However, political and security sources in Israel told senior Maariv commentator Ben Caspit that appears on Al-Monitor that the Lebanese army is not doing enough to disarm Hezbollah in those villages where Hezbollah weapons are hidden.
An Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon could benefit Trump politically ahead of the midterm elections in November, in time the Democrats have a majority in the polls. But it seems that the American president will not get what he wants, as Israel is getting closer to restarting the war against Hezbollah, that is defending Lebanon.
In the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, the Zionist army forces have been laying siege to several dozen Hezbollah fighters for more than two months. The ridge, located at a strategic point, sits above an extensive underground command and control center of Hezbollah, from which the organization-initiated operations against northern Israel. Israel controls all access roads to the facility and bombs it from the ground and air.
Tensions continue even though Israel and Lebanon are conducting negotiations under American auspices aimed at reaching a peace agreement between the two countries and ensuring Hezbollah’s disarmament. The first direct meeting between the sides was held in Washington on April 14. Since then, six more meetings have been held in Washington and Rome. The eighth meeting is scheduled for early September in Rome. Meetings that do not bring any positive results for Lebanon and strengthen Hezbollah’s standing in Lebanon as the real defender of Lebanon.
Israel appears unwilling to withdraw from the area around the ridge or allow Hezbollah fighters to leave their bunkers. The Netanyahu government understands that a full-scale assault on the underground facility could trigger an Iranian drone or missile response and reignite fighting across the region. Renewed war would help Netanyahu to postpone elections on security grounds. For now, under U.S. pressure to continue the withdrawal process, Israel is carrying out limited attacks around the Ali al-Taher Ridge rather than launching a direct assault.
On Thursday, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, a veteran of the IRGC, sent a clear warning to Israel. He said that attacks against Beirut and Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Dahiya district are Iran’s “red lines,” Rezaei said in an interview with the Lebanese Al-Manar network. He added, “It is difficult to control and occupy Lebanese soil. It is impossible to impose a siege on it. Israel has no choice but to withdraw from southern Lebanon against its will, with heavy losses and crushing defeats.” Hezbollah responded to the Zionist attacks and launched two explosive UAVs at the forces of the Zionist occupation army encircled Ali al Taher on the night of August 26.
Israel says, “The Lebanese army has a lot of goodwill, but very little capability. The Lebanese soldiers do not enter private houses in the villages, which are mostly populated by people who are identified in one way or another with Hezbollah. If you don’t go into the houses, you don’t do anything, because the rockets, the missiles, the weapons – everything is stored in private homes,” Israel also claims that Iran’s efforts to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah through Syria have been renewed in recent months.”
Italy has advanced a proposal to replace the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon after the UNIFIL mandate expires at the end of this year. But the Zionist position is that no one will be able to disarm Hezbollah in place of Israel, or in place of the Lebanese government, if it acts seriously,” to eliminate Hezbollah. In other words, Israel will continue with the occupation of south Lebanon.
Israel says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is treading cautiously, fearing angering Trump, but also refraining from making any concessions on the issue of Hezbollah that could make him appear weak in the eyes of the Israeli electorate ahead of the Oct. 27 elections. A poll published in Maariv on Friday gives Netanyahu’s Likud only 20 seats, compared to 25 seats for the new Yashar party headed by Eisenkot.
Whether Eisenkot’s government withdraws from Lebanon is not at all guaranteed, and if he does not withdraw, any entry into his government or outside support, for Ra’am and the Joint List, it would be a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.