Conflict With Hezbollah in Lebanon
Background
After gaining independence in 1943, Lebanon’s new political leaders created a system of governance that would allow for the proportional representation of the country’s three major religious groups: Maronite Christians (represented by the president), Shiite Muslims (represented by the speaker of parliament), and Sunni Muslims (represented by the prime minister). However, unresolved sectarian differences eventually devolved into a civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1990, in which both Israeli and Syrian forces intervened—and more than one hundred thousand people died. Syrian forces withdrew from Lebanon in 2005 following the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, but a war between Israel and Hezbollah quickly followed in 2006.
Since these hostilities, sectarian tensions between Hezbollah and other religious sects have increased, particularly among Sunnis and Maronite Christians. The unique balance of power within the country has made it increasingly difficult for all stakeholders to come to political agreements, especially when it comes to filling the presidency. In addition to a two-and-a-half-year leadership gap from 2014 to 2016, Lebanon is currently without a president after the conclusion of Michel Aoun’s contentious term in October 2022. Furthermore, Lebanese politics has become a proxy battleground for Iran, which provides support for Hezbollah; and Saudi Arabia, which backed former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and other Sunni politicians.
Lebanon’s tenuous political situation can largely be attributed to political gridlock but has also occurred because of spillover from the Syrian civil war. In addition to hosting more than 1.5 million refugees (over 800,000 of whom are Syrian), the nearly thirteen-year conflict in Syria has affected cross-border trade and dampened Lebanon’s tourism industry. In addition to the world’s third-highest ratio of debt to gross domestic product, Lebanon also maintains one of the largest refugee populations per capita.
Despite Lebanon’s dissociation policy, Hezbollah’s armed component has also been involved in the Syrian civil war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This has exacerbated relations between Hezbollah and Israel along the shared (and disputed) Israel-Lebanon border and has led to increasingly hostile rhetorical exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel over Israeli air strikes in Syria. Hezbollah has allegedly supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since the start of the Syrian war in 2011.
In October 2019, widespread protests erupted throughout Lebanon as a result of endemic corruption and a complete stagnation of the economy. Protestors—coming from all religious sects—called for the establishment of a new political regime, which did away with the sectarian divides that had plagued the country since its independence. This rare unity among the citizens resulted in the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers and put into motion the reshuffling of the government. However, the COVID-19 pandemic put an effective end to any change that had been culminating.
Tensions between the government and its citizens reached an all-time high once again following an explosion at the Port of Beirut in August 2020, which cost an estimated $15 billion in damages and left more than 300,000 homeless. The explosion—which many attributed to years of government negligence—reignited widespread protests and saw the entire cabinet resign, with the government staying on only in a caretaker capacity. The domestic investigation into the explosion has become a highly politicized affair as the Shia-majority political parties, Amal and Hezbollah, have moved to obstruct the investigation by shielding politicians and threatening the presiding judge.
Recent Developments
The culmination of several factors, including widespread government corruption, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Beirut port explosion, have led to the worst financial crisis in the small country’s history. After Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that Lebanon would default on its Eurobond debt for the first time, the Lebanese currency began to plummet in valuation, leading to hyperinflation. In April 2023, Lebanese inflation hit a high at almost 270 percent, reducing to 254 percent in June 2023. Despite being pegged to the United States Dollar at a rate of £L1507.5 per dollar since 1997, the Lebanese pound reached a new low of more than £L100,000 per dollar in March 2023.
In 2022, the Lebanese government and the IMF came to a staff-level agreement that would provide billions in economic assistance. The deal, however, is contingent on implementing several complex economic reforms that would increase financial and political transparency in Lebanon. While the government has been slow to implement reforms, more than 80 percent of the population lives in multidimensional poverty. Following the conclusion of President Michel Aoun’s term, the government has been unable to elect a new president, leaving the country in a political and economic vacuum. In June 2023, protests aimed at banks and politicians erupted after lawmakers failed in their twelfth attempt to elect a president. As of February 2024, the presidency remains vacant, with no indication of when the seat will be filled.
In early October 2023, tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border spiked in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel from Gaza and Israel’s subsequent military campaign against the militant group. Though separate entities, Hezbollah and Hamas have long been united in their shared objective of armed resistance against Israel. Hezbollah not only voiced support for the attack but also fired artillery and rockets in solidarity with Palestinians across Israel’s northern border, raising fears that another front would be opened leading to a broader conflict in the Middle East. Within the first few days of the war, at least three of Hezbollah’s members were killed during an Israeli bombardment of southern Lebanon.”
To send a message of deterrence to Iran and Hezbollah, the United States quickly deployed two of the Navy’s most powerful carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Despite its posturing, the Biden administration made it clear that the carriers and their accompanying weaponry were not there to engage in combat activities on behalf of Israel. This move by the United States did little to deter Hezbollah – in November 2023, the party’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, pledged that the front against its enemy would remain indefinitely active.
As of February 2024, fighting between Hezbollah and the Israeli military along the southern Lebanese border continues to escalate, having displaced over 90,000 individuals from south Lebanon. Since October 7, 2023, more than 1,700 rockets have been fired from Lebanon toward Israel, killing 15 Israelis, and injuring more than 150 people, according to the Israeli military. Approximately 158 Lebanese people have been killed in the ongoing violence including at least 25 civilians, and 686 people have been wounded. On October 13, a Reuters journalist was killed and six other journalists were wounded in shelling by Israeli forces while they were reporting at the border. Fueled by concerns about journalists being potentially targeted in Gaza and south Lebanon, human rights organizations have called for an investigation into the attack. On November 5, an Israeli air strike on a car between the southern Lebanese villages of Aynata and Aitaroun killed three girls between the ages of ten and fourteen and their grandmother, sparking outrage throughout the country.
On January 2, 2024, Israel launched a drone strike on a Hamas office in Dahiyeb, a southern suburb of Beirut, killing seven people. Though the Israeli military and intelligence service have historically conducted assassinations on Palestinian leaders in Lebanon, this strike was the first in the country’s capital since 2006. Among those killed were Saleh al-Arouri, the deputy chief of the Hamas political bureau, and two senior commanders of the Qassam Brigades. In response, Hezbollah’s Nasrallah pledged to retaliate, while Lebanon filed a complaint to the United Nations Security Council over the assassination. As of February 2024, the border remains volatile, with near-daily exchanges of fire, driving fears of regional spillover of the Gaza conflict.
Israel–Hezbollah Fighting Intensifies as Death Toll Rises in Lebanon
Israeli strikes continued in Beirut overnight and on Friday as Israel warned its citizens in Lebanon to evacuate (Reuters). The Israel Defense Forces reported that strikes hit a key fundraiser for Hamas (Times of Israel). Eight Israeli soldiers were wounded in a Hezbollah rocket attack that struck an army position near the Lebanese border (Times of Israel). Shortly after Israel issued evacuation orders for Beirut’s southern suburbs, Hezbollah warned Israeli residents to evacuate towns near the Israel-Lebanon border via a Hebrew message on Telegram (Reuters). Lebanon’s health ministry reported that the death toll of the renewed conflict has surpassed two hundred, with close to eight hundred wounded (AP). Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that a humanitarian disaster is looming due to mass displacement from the fighting and called on the international community to help stop Israeli attacks (AP). UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned that Israel’s large-scale evacuation orders for southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs raise serious concerns under international humanitarian law due to the risk of forced displacement (Reuters).
Israel Strikes Beirut Suburbs as Hezbollah Deploys Fighters in Southern Lebanon
Israeli airstrikes struck Beirut’s southern suburbs, collapsing buildings and prompting residents to flee as Israel said it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in Dahiyeh (NYT). Before the strikes, Israel warned residents to evacuate Beirut’s southern suburbs, including Hezbollah-controlled areas, triggering a mass departure from the district (Reuters). In response, Hezbollah redeployed elite Radwan force fighters to southern Lebanon to confront Israeli troops; fighters were reportedly ordered to block Israeli tank advances in border towns including Khiyam (Reuters). Two Israeli service members were injured during combat with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon as Israel continued its air campaign (Times of Israel). Meanwhile, Israeli officials reported that several dozen Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers advising Hezbollah have fled Beirut in the past two days (Axios). French President Emmanuel Macron announced France would provide armed vehicles and humanitarian aid to Lebanon and appealed to Israel and Hezbollah to stand down (X).
Hezbollah, Israel Continue Exchanging Fire
The Israel Defense Forces announced a new wave of strikes in southern Lebanon, telling residents to evacuate towards the north of the Litani River (Reuters). A Lebanese state news agency reported that several people were killed in earlier strikes on a residential building in eastern Lebanon (Times of Israel). Meanwhile, Hezbollah has continued retaliation strikes at the same time as Iranian strikes, with Hezbollah’s military media confirming six attacks on Israel (Reuters). The retaliatory strikes come as an Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that Israel has struck over 250 Hezbollah targets over the past two days (AP).
Hezbollah, Israel Continue Exchanging Fire
Hezbollah continued launching missiles at Israel while Israel continued with waves of airstrikes and deployed troops in southern Lebanon (Reuters). Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the move to deploy troops to the south of Lebanon was to prevent direct fire on neighboring Israeli communities (Times of Israel). Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces reported that strikes also killed Daoud Ali Zadeh, the acting commander of the Lebanon Corps of the elite Qods Force, in Tehran (AP). Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, a Hezbollah ally, also stated that its command center was targeted by the IDF (Times of Israel). Haneen Sayed, Lebanon’s minister of social affairs, said that forty people were killed and over two-hundred injured in Israeli strikes since Monday (NYT). This figure includes three paramedics who were killed, and six others who were wounded while recovering victims from an airstrike in the Tyre district of Lebanon (NBC). As tensions rise, the U.S. Department of State announced that it closed the U.S. embassy in Beirut (State).
IDF Begins Strikes in Lebanon
After Hezbollah announced that it launched drones and rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa to avenge the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated it struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon (BBC). Residents near Beirut reported sounds of explosions as Israeli airstrikes targeted the residential center of Dahiya, which is also a Hezbollah stronghold (NYT). The IDF confirmed that the strikes killed Hussein Makled, who it described as the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence wing (Times of Israel). The Lebanese Health Ministry stated that 31 people were killed and another 139 were wounded in the Israeli operations (NPR). Thousands of people have fled southern Lebanon (NYT). Amid the strikes, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that Lebanon would ban military activities by Hezbollah; the announcement is likely to fuel additional internal division as Hezbollah faces a new Israeli offensive campaign (Reuters).
Hezbollah Launches Missiles Into Israel
The Israel Defense Forces stated that Hezbollah fired several missiles from Lebanon into Israel; Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, stating it was a retaliatory strike in response to the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (Axios).
U.S.: No Israeli Escalation in Lebanon If Hezbollah Stands Down
Following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, the U.S. Ambassador told the Lebanese presidency that Israel would not escalate against Lebanon as long as no hostile acts were taken from the Lebanese side; this comes as Hezbollah expressed solidarity with Iran but stopped short of announcing whether the group would join the fighting (Reuters). Israel previously warned Beirut that if Hezbollah became involved in a U.S.-Iran war, it would strike Lebanon hard, including civilian infrastructure (Reuters).
Lebanon Urges Hezbollah to Stay Out of Any U.S.-Iran Conflict
Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji urged Hezbollah not to get involved in any conflict between Iran and the United States; this comes as Israel warned Lebanese officials that another Israel-Hezbollah war would trigger strikes against civilian infrastructure across Lebanon more intense than the previous round of fighting (AP).
United States Pulling Out Non-Essential Staff Amid Iran Tensions
A senior State Department official stated that the U.S. Embassy in Beirut would be removing non-essential staff and eligible family members amid concerns about escalating tensions with Iran; fifty people were reportedly evacuated, including thirty-two who flew out of Beirut airport on Monday (Reuters).
Israeli Strikes Kill Ten
Lebanese officials stated that Israeli airstrikes in eastern Lebanon killed at least ten; Hezbollah confirmed that eight members, including one senior field commander, were killed (BBC).
IDF Targets Hezbollah Weapons Dept
The Israel Defense Forces announced that it struck Hezbollah targets in Southern Lebanon, including missile launchers, weapons storage facilities, and military sites used to conduct attacks (Times of Israel).
Hezbollah Rejects Disarmament Plan
Hezbollah rejected the Lebanese government’s plan to allow its army to begin its second phase of a national disarmament plan, stating the group would not accept what it deems as a move that benefits Israel (Reuters).
Israels Strikes Hezbollah Official and Seizes Hamas Ally
The Israel Defense Forces stated it struck Hezbollah artillery official Ahmad Salami, as Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone strike killed three civilians; separately, the IDF seized an unnamed ally of Hamas and brought him to Israel for questioning (AP).
Weapons Used in Mezzeh Airport Attacks Traced to Hezbollah
Syria arrested the group behind the recent Mezzeh Airport attacks, and investigators traced the weapons to Hezbollah; Hezbollah denied the allegations and stated it had no ties to Syria (Reuters). Separately, the Israel Defense Forces struck engineering vehicles it says were used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon (Times of Israel).
Israeli Air Force Strikes Hezbollah Operative
The Israeli Air Force struck a Hezbollah operative in Seddiqine, southern Lebanon (Times of Israel).
Hezbollah Warns of Regional War Over U.S. Threats to Iran
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the group is preparing to confront potential U.S. action against Iran, including any threat to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei; he further warned that a war on Iran could ignite the entire region and said Hezbollah is not neutral and will decide in due course whether to intervene (Reuters).
Israel Expands Airstrikes on Hezbollah Sites Across Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said it launched a new wave of airstrikes on Hezbollah military sites across several areas in Lebanon; this follows earlier strikes that hit a Hezbollah-run weapons manufacturing facility in southern Lebanon and additional Hezbollah infrastructure in the Beqaa valley (Times of Israel).
Lebanon Seeks New International Force After UNFIL Withdrawal
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon will need a new international force after the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon withdraws in 2027, citing continued Israeli operations in southern Lebanon and ongoing tensions with Hezbollah (Arab News).
Israel Targets Hezbollah Smuggling Routes on Syria-Lebanon Border
Israel struck four crossings along the Syria-Lebanon border that it said Hezbollah uses to smuggle weapons; the IDF carried out additional strikes on Hezbollah-linked infrastructure in southern Lebanon that wounded nineteen people (Reuters).
Israel Launches Strikes on Hezbollah Positions
Israel said it is striking Hezbollah targets in multiple areas of Lebanon in response to what it described as repeated violations of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire; the Israeli military also issued warnings to residents in specific buildings in the village of Sohmor ahead of the attacks (Reuters).
U.S. Designates Muslim Brotherhood Chapter as Terrorist Organization
The Trump administration designated the group’s chapters in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon as terrorist organizations (Treasury). The moves were “the opening actions” in efforts to counter the group’s “violence and destabilization,” Rubio said in a statement (State). Muslim Brotherhood leaders claim to renounce violence, though Trump wrote last year that the Lebanese chapter launched rockets against Israel (AP; White House).
Army Reasserts Control of Southern Region Once Dominated by Hezbollah
The operations were pledged as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon in late 2024, which required Hezbollah’s disarmament; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Lebanon’s efforts were “an encouraging beginning,” but insufficient (Reuters).
Israeli Strikes in Southern and Eastern Lebanon
Israel’s military said the targets were Hezbollah and Hamas sites; Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the overnight attacks undermined Lebanon’s ongoing efforts to extend government control over Hezbollah-dominated areas (AP). Israel issued a warning ahead of the attacks, and the target areas were evacuated (Politico).
Talks on Hezbollah Disarmament
Officials from France, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the United States met in Paris to discuss a roadmap for disarming Hezbollah, one of the central tenets of a ceasefire agreement reached between Israel and Lebanon late last year; the countries agreed to host a conference on the matter in February, France’s foreign ministry said (Reuters). Each side has accused the other of ceasefire violations; Israel carried out strikes in Lebanon today (AP).
Israeli Airstrikes in Southern Lebanon
Israel hit Hezbollah targets across various villages, targeting launch sites and training grounds belonging to the elite Radwan Force (Times of Israel). The strikes damaged homes, although no casualties were reported (Anadolu Agency).