Israel has drastically ramped up its military campaign across Lebanon, hitting many dozens of 'Hezbollah sites' - and seriously escalating the long-running conflict, despite there officially being a US-mediated ceasefire in place.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed on Monday that instructed the military to "press the pedal even harder" against Hezbollah, reportedly upon a greenlight being given by Washington, following increased drone attacks from the Shia paramilitary group backed by Iran on northern Israel.
"We are at war with Hezbollah. Just in recent weeks, our brave fighters have eliminated more than 600 terrorists," Netanyahu announced in video statement. "But we are not taking our foot off the gas. On the contrary, I have instructed them to press the pedal even harder."
"We will strike them. Yes, they are attacking us with drones, cyber-enabled drones, and we have a special team working on this — and we will solve that too…But what this requires from us now is to intensify the blows, increase the force. We will strike them decisively," the Israeli leader said.
The last several hours have indeed witnessed expanded attacks across Lebanon, including Tyre, and Bekaa Valley, and evacuation orders have been given for south Beirut suburbs.
Al Jazeera has cited the Israeli army, which has indicated it targeted the following in the past 24 hours:
- More than 70 Hezbollah infrastructure sites across the country.
- About 10 headquarters and weapons depots in the Tyre area.
- An unspecified number of Hezbollah fighters on motorcycles in the south.
Gong back to early March, over 3,180 Lebanese have been killed, with more than 9,000 wounded - according to Lebanese health officials. The figures do not distinguish between armed combatants or civilians.
Critics of Israel have warned that Netanyahu is trying to sabotage Trump's efforts to find a final peace deal with Iran. The Israelis have long worried that Washington could in the end settle for a 'bad deal' - or one that doesn't ensure the complete destruction of Iran's nuclear program and highly enriched uranium.
Officials in Tehran have meanwhile consistently tried to link a broader deal with peace in Lebanon - a position which Tel Aviv has in turn repeatedly rejected.
While Israel has a ceasefire agreement in place with the government of Lebanon, it insists that this does not extend to Hezbollah, which Israel and the US deem a terrorist organization.