Israeli troops demolish buildings in Khiam, Naqoura as ministers consider halt to aggression on Lebanon

A temporary ceasefire in Lebanon is still pending final confirmation from Israel, after Hezbollah and the Lebanese government agreed to the terms put together by the United States and France, an informed Lebanese political source told Mada Masr.

The source, a member of Parliament for the Amal Movement, said that there is no clear answer yet, but that Washington is hopeful that Israel will drop its ambition to continue the war in favor of the ceasefire agreement.

Israeli ministers in the security cabinet were due to meet in Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon to discuss their final position on the potential ceasefire.

Meanwhile, fighting continued in south Lebanon, with Hezbollah launching rocket fire at Israeli forces in Khiam, where a battle has been raging for two weeks and where Israeli forces rigged and detonated structures with explosives on Tuesday, according to a Lebanese state security source.

Hezbollah said it had launched rockets, hitting a Merkava tank in Khiam on Tuesday. The group also said it had launched rocket salvos at settlements in northern Israel. 

Near Lebanon’s southern coast, invading troops withdrew from more advanced positions they had reached in recent weeks but conducted heavy airstrikes on Naqoura, closer to the border, where they also rigged structures with explosives and carried out demolitions, according to the state security source and two other field sources who spoke to Mada Masr.

The political source said that Lebanon and Hezbollah have informed the US that they have agreed to all of the terms put forward, among which the most important, according to the source, is Hezbollah’s withdrawal of its arms and fighters north of the Litani River.

The withdrawal represented a substantial stumbling block to the conclusion of an agreement, the source said, noting that Hezbollah had ultimately committed to the condition to halt further bloodshed in Lebanon.

Over 3,768 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since October 8, 2023, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, has said that it has killed around 100 Israeli soldiers, while Israeli authorities acknowledge the killing of at least 71 Israeli soldiers and 44 civilians in south Lebanon and northern Israel.

Other sticking points in the talks have included Israel’s insistence that it be allowed to conduct air sorties into Lebanese territory to enforce Hezbollah’s withdrawal, a demand that has reportedly been assuaged by the US providing Israel with guarantees that it be allowed to conduct airstrikes in the event that it detects a threat.

The deal reportedly on the table is a 60-day halt to hostilities during which Hezbollah would withdraw its forces to positions further north, while the Lebanese military would be deployed more heavily to south Lebanon. Israel would also withdraw its forces from the ground in south Lebanon.

To monitor Hezbollah’s adherence to the terms, the Lebanese military, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, and an Israeli representative — the tripartite group that has gathered to resolve disputes since the end of Israel’s 2006 invasion — would be joined under the new agreement by a French delegate.

The political source told Mada Masr that Washington told Lebanon it is still waiting for the outcome of Israel’s decision, given a clear divergence of views among its ministers, some of whom wish the war to continue with the ambition of fully eradicating Hezbollah.

Far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said on X that pursuing a ceasefire would be a “big mistake” and a “historic missed opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”

Internal calls also came for Netanyahu to share the details of the deal not only with the security cabinet but with the entire Knesset.

Clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters defending the town continued in Khiam near the municipality and at the outskirts of the town’s southeast, as well as from the northern outskirts of the city, according to a Lebanese state security source who spoke to Mada Masr. The source said that Israeli forces rigged and detonated explosives to demolish structures in Khiam on Tuesday.

The town has been under assault for two weeks, with daily clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces conducting their second offensive on the town in Lebanon’s southeast since they invaded the country in October.

Meanwhile, while Israeli forces withdrew from Bayadeh in the southwest, to which they had attempted an advance in recent days, they conducted explosions in the coastal city of Naqoura, according to three field sources who spoke to Mada Masr.

Israel also continued its airstrikes on villages and towns in the two southern governorates of Nabatieh and Sur, as well as on Nuwairy in central Beirut, where at least one person was killed and ten injured, according to a preliminary count by the Lebanese Health Ministry, which said search and rescue operations were ongoing.

After issuing evacuation orders for at least 20 sites across Beirut, Israel also launched airstrikes on sites in the capital on Tuesday afternoon.