Lebanon & Hezbollah

Assessment

Hezbollah re-entered the war on March 2 and the IDF invaded on March 16; Israel holds about 20 percent of Lebanon, more than 4,000 Lebanese have been killed and about 1.2 million displaced. Israeli strikes continued into mid-September, hitting Nabatieh al-Fawqa, Kfar Tibnit and Ali al-Taher on Sept 13 days after the Sept 10 demolition of a two-kilometre Hezbollah tunnel complex under the Ali al-Taher ridge, and the IDF said on Sept 15 that troops had found Hezbollah rocket launchers in the south. US Ambassador Michel Issa toured southern villages under Lebanese army control on Sept 15 while an Israeli drone surveyed the area, the first visible US movement on the June trilateral framework since Israel-Lebanon talks were postponed on Sept 12. Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sept 13 that Israel will not withdraw from what it calls a security zone before Hezbollah disarms, and the US-mediated Rome round has slipped to October.