Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Beirut:

At least two people were killed on Monday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanese authorities said, as a ceasefire ending more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah appeared increasingly fragile.

The truce, which came into effect early on Nov. 27, stipulates that Israel will not carry out offensive military operations against civilian, military or other state targets in Lebanon, while Lebanon will prevent any armed groups, including Hezbollah, from carrying out operations against Israel.

Lebanon and Israel have already traded accusations of breaches, and on Monday Lebanon said the violations had turned deadly.

One person was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, about 10 km (six miles) from the border with Israel, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

Lebanon’s state security said an Israeli drone strike had killed a member of its force while he was on duty in Nabatieh, 12 km from the border. State security called it a “flagrant violation” of the truce.

There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

Public broadcaster Kan and other Israeli media outlets said on Monday that U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who brokered the ceasefire after weeks of shuttle diplomacy, had warned Israel against alleged violations.

The Israeli government did not immediately comment on the reports.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Watch: Explained: Why did Israel accept the Hezbollah ceasefire?

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to launch a military invasion of Lebanon on October 1 — Israel’s fourth invasion of the neighbouring country — he said his main objective was to let the over 60,000 northern Israelis, who were displaced by Hezbollah rockets, return to their homes.

Almost two months later, he accepted a ceasefire with Hezbollah, agreeing to withdraw all Israeli troops to the south of the Lebanese border. The future of the displaced residents remains uncertain. Hezbollah still possesses thousands of drones and rockets and the capability to fire them.

Then why did Mr. Netanyahu accept the ceasefire?

Read more: Making sense of the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

Script and presentation: Stanly Johny

Editing: Aniket Singh Chauhan

Video: Shivaraj S

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem.

Beirut:

Lebanese group Hezbollah said Wednesday it had achieved “victory” over Israel and that its fighters were at the ready, after a truce between the two sides took effect.

“Victory from God almighty was the ally of the righteous cause,” a statement from the Iran-backed group said, adding that its fighters “will remain in total readiness to deal with the Israeli enemy’s ambitions and its attacks”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beirut:

Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah traded deadly blows on Thursday as their war raged on despite signs of progress in US ceasefire efforts, with airstrikes pounding Beirut’s southern suburbs and rockets flying into northern Israel.

US mediator Amos Hochstein was in Israel for talks with Israeli officials to try to secure a ceasefire which he said was “within our grasp” during a visit to Beirut earlier this week.

The diplomacy marks the most serious attempt yet to end the conflict between Israel and the heavily armed, Iran-backed Hezbollah, part of the regional spillover of the Gaza war that erupted more than a year ago.

In southern Lebanon, an Israeli airstrike killed three people in the village of Chaaitiyeh, some 10 km (6 miles), from the border, the Lebanese health ministry said.

In Israel, a 30-year-old man was killed when shrapnel from a rocket struck a playground in the northern town of Nahariya, Israel’s MDA medical service said.

“The Israeli government is not safeguarding my security, my residents or the residents of the north (of Israel). It is not possible to live in such a situation like this,” Nahariya Mayor Ronen Marelly told public broadcaster Kan.

The Israeli military said about 10 rockets were launched from Lebanon towards Nahariya. “Most of the projectiles were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified,” the military said in a statement.

Channel 12 said three rockets hit the coastal town.

Hezbollah’s al-Manar television station, citing its correspondent, confirmed rocket fire towards Nahariya and the surrounding area.

Airstrikes on Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs shook the capital, sending up thick clouds of debris.

The Israeli military issued a statement on X ahead of strikes warning residents they were near Hezbollah targets against which it would soon take action. Residents have largely fled the area since Israel went on the offensive in September.

White House envoy Hochstein left for Israel after declaring progress during two days of talks in Lebanon with officials including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, endorsed to negotiate by the Iran-backed Hezbollah. Speaking before he left Beirut, Hochstein said he was going to Israel to try to close an agreement if possible.

The diplomacy aims to end a conflict that has inflicted massive devastation in Lebanon since Israel began its offensive, mounting airstrikes across wide parts of the country and sending in troops.

Footage broadcast by Al Jazeera showed thick smoke rising from the town of Khiyam in southern Lebanon, some 6 km (4 miles) from the border, a focal point of ground battles between Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops.

Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from its north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which opened fire in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

Hezbollah, which has suffered major blows since Israel began its offensive in September, has kept up rocket fire into Israel, attacking Tel Aviv this week. Its fighters are battling Israeli troops on the ground in the south.

The casualty toll since Oct. 2023 stands at 3,558 people killed in Lebanon, the Lebanese health ministry says, most of them killed during the Israeli offensive since September. The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The ministry said 14 fatalities were reported on Tuesday.

Hezbollah strikes have killed more than 100 people in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They include more than 70 soldiers killed in strikes in northern Israel and the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israel.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

On top of the grievous toll in human life and misery, Israel’s war against the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups has been expensive, and the painfully high financial costs are raising concerns about the long-term effect of the fighting on the country’s economy.

Military spending has ballooned, and growth has stalled, especially in dangerous border areas that were evacuated. Economists say the country could face declining investment and higher taxes as the war strains government budgets and forces tough choices between social programs and the military.

Here is a look at the monetary costs Israel faces as a result of the conflict:

The Israeli Government is spending much more per month on the military, from $1.8 billion before Hamas started the fighting by attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, to around $4.7 billion by the end of last year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The Government spent $27.5 billion on the military last year, according to the institute, ranking 15th globally behind Poland but ahead of Canada and Spain, all of which have larger populations. Military spending as a percentage of annual economic output was 5.3%, compared with 3.4% for the United States and 1.5% for Germany. That pales in comparison to Ukraine, which spent 37% of its GDP and more than half its entire government budget on fighting off Russia’s invasion.

In the three months after Hamas attacked, Israel’s economic output shrank 5.6%, the worst performance of any of the 38 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of mostly rich nations.

The economy partly rebounded with growth of 4% in the first part of this year but grew only 0.2% in the second quarter.

The war has inflicted an even heavier toll on Gaza’s already broken economy, where 90% of the population has been displaced and the vast majority of the workforce is unemployed. The West Bank economy has also been hit hard, where tens of thousands of Palestinian labourers lost their jobs in Israel after October 7 and Israeli military raids and checkpoints have hindered movement. The World Bank says the West Bank economy contracted by 25% in the first quarter.

In Israel, the war has imposed many economic burdens. Call-ups and extensions of military service threaten to crimp the labour supply. Security worries deter investment in new business, and disruptions in flights have kept many visitors away, cutting into the tourism industry.

Meanwhile, the government is paying for housing for thousands of people who had to leave their homes in the south near the border with Gaza and in the north where they were exposed to fire from Hezbollah.

One of the biggest concerns is the open-ended nature of the fighting, which has lasted more than a year. Israel’s economy rebounded quickly from a 2006 war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. But that conflict lasted only 34 days.

Moody’s Ratings cited that idea on September 27, when it lowered the Israeli Government’s credit rating, two notches. The Baa1 rating is still considered investment grade, albeit with moderate risk, according to Moody’s.

Israel’s economy is hardly collapsing. The country has a diversified, highly developed economy with a strong information-technology sector, which supports tax revenues and defence spending. Unemployment is low, and the TA-35 stock index is up 10.5% on the year.

Even amid the fighting, tech companies raised some $2.5 billion in capital during the third quarter, according to Zvi Eckstein, head of the Aaron Institute for Economic Policy at Reichman University.

“Israel started the war “in the best economic condition” regarding government debt, which stood at a relatively modest 60% of GDP,” Mr. Eckstein said. “We financed the war mainly with debt,” which has now risen to 62% but is still contained compared with France at 111% and in line with Germany at 63.5%.

The institute foresees debt reaching 80% of GDP, assuming the fighting does not markedly intensify and some sort of cease-fire or conclusion can be reached by the end of next year. Even then, higher defence spending is likely, especially if Israel maintains a military presence in Gaza after the war.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s budget for 2025 foresees a deficit of below 4%, saying that will ensure that Israel’s debt burden remains stable. Mr. Smotrich said the country has a stable shekel currency, rising share prices, a tight jobs market, strong tax revenues and access to credit, and a rebounding tech sector.

Moody’s questioned the deficit figures, forecasting a 6% deficit for next year.

“The credit downgrade will lead to higher borrowing costs, meaning Israelis are likely to see cuts to public services and higher taxes,” said Karnit Flug, a former head of Israel’s central bank and now vice president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute.

Before the war, American military aid to Israel amounted to around $3.8 billion per year under a deal signed during President Barack Obama’s administration. That comes to roughly 14% of Israel’s prewar military spending, much of which goes to U.S. defence companies.

Since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict across the Middle East, the United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel, according to a report for Brown University’s Costs of War project that was released on the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Beyond strictly military aid, the U.S. has offered critical financial support for Israel during times of trouble. Congress in 2003 approved $9 billion in credit guarantees that let Israel borrow at affordable rates after the economy suffered during the so-called second intifada, or Palestinian uprising.

Some of those guarantees remain unused and could in theory be tapped to stabilise government finances if Israel faces unaffordable borrowing costs.

The government has convened a commission under former acting national security adviser Jacob Nagel, who negotiated Israel’s most recent U.S. aid package, to offer recommendations on the size of the future defence budget and to assess how increased defence spending could affect the economy.

Economist Eckstein said a budget that includes some tax increases and cuts in social spending would be needed to support a postwar rebound and pay for likely higher ongoing defence costs.

Jerusalem:

The Israeli army on Monday said air raid sirens were activated across central Israel, including the commercial hub of Tel Aviv, as projectiles were fired across the border from Lebanon.

“Sirens sounded in a number of areas in central Israel due to projectiles fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement.

The police said they had deployed officers to locate and secure any potential impact sites “to ensure public safety”.

In a later statement, the military said that “several interception attempts were made toward a number of projectiles that crossed from Lebanon”.

It did not specify whether any of the projectiles had breached the country’s air defences.

The barrage comes just a day after a Hezbollah drone attack killed four soldiers in the deadliest attack on Israel since the war in Lebanon began.

Israel and Hezbollah have been at war since Israel intensified its strikes on Lebanon on September 23 and sent ground troops across the border a week later.

Israel has vowed to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of people displaced by nearly a year of Hezbollah rocket fire. Hezbollah says the rocket fire is in solidarity with its Palestinian ally, Hamas.

Israel’s air defences, including the Iron Dome system, have so far intercepted most of the projectiles, with a few casualties caused by strikes or falling debris.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beirut:

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned Saturday against a “catastrophic” regional conflict as Israeli forces battled Hezbollah and Hamas militants on two fronts, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Israel has faced a fierce diplomatic backlash over incidents in south Lebanon that saw five Blue Helmets wounded.

On Saturday, the Lebanese health ministry said Israeli air strikes on two villages located near the capital Beirut killed nine people.

Israel had earlier told residents of south Lebanon not to return home, as its troops fought Hezbollah militants in a war that has killed more than 1,200 people since September 23, and forced more than a million others to flee their homes.

“For your own protection, do not return to your homes until further notice… Do not go south; anyone who goes south may put his life at risk,” Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X.

Hezbollah said Saturday it launched missiles across the border into northern Israel, where air raid sirens sounded and the military said it had intercepted a projectile.

In an interview with AFP, UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told AFP he feared an Israeli escalation against Hezbollah in south Lebanon could soon spiral out of control “into a regional conflict with catastrophic impact for everyone”.

The UN force said five peacekeepers have been wounded by fighting in south Lebanon in just two days, and Tenenti said “a lot of damage” had been caused to its posts there.

Around Israel, markets were closed and public transport halted as observant Jews fasted and prayed on Yom Kippur.

After the holiday, attention is likely to turn again to Israel’s expected retaliation against Iran, which launched around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.

Israel began pounding Gaza shortly after suffering its worst ever attacks from Iran-backed Hamas militants on October 7 last year, and it launched a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon on September 30.

‘Deliberately targeted’

On Friday, Israel faced criticism from the UN, its Western allies and others over what it said was a “hit” on a UN peacekeeping position in Lebanon.

Two Sri Lankan peacekeepers were hurt in the second such incident in two days, UNIFIL said Friday.

Israel’s military said soldiers had responded to “an immediate threat” around 50 metres (yards) from the UNIFIL base in Naqura, and has pledged to carry out a “thorough review”.

The Irish military’s chief of staff, Sean Clancy, said it was “not an accidental act”, and French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed the peacekeepers had been “deliberately targeted”.

Both countries are major contributors to UNIFIL whose peacekeepers are on the front line of the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Efforts to negotiate an end to the fighting have so far failed, but Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said his government would ask the UN Security Council to issue a new resolution calling for a “full and immediate ceasefire”.

Lebanon’s military said Friday an Israeli strike on one of its positions in south Lebanon killed two soldiers.

In a show of support for Iran’s ally Hezbollah, the speaker of the Iranian parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf visited the site Saturday of a deadly Israeli strike earlier this week.

A source close to Hezbollah said the strike had targeted Hezbollah’s security chief Wafiq Safa, but neither Hezbollah nor Israel has confirmed he was the target.

Ghalibaf’s Lebanon visit, a signal of Tehran’s defiance, comes after Israel vowed to respond to Iran’s second-ever direct attack.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has vowed that the response will be “deadly, precise and surprising”.

The United States is pushing for a “proportionate” response that would not tip the region into a wider war, with President Joe Biden urging Israel to avoid striking Iranian nuclear facilities or energy infrastructure.

Gaza deaths

Iran-backed Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has wrought devastation and, according to data from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, killed 42,175 people, a majority civilians.

Israeli operations in Gaza continue, with the army laying siege to an area around Jabalia in the north, causing more suffering for hundreds of thousands of people trapped there, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Adraee, the Israeli military spokesman, posted another evacuation warning Saturday for an area near Jabalia.

“The specified area, including the shelters within it, is considered a dangerous combat zone,” Adraee said on X, ordering residents to move to the humanitarian zone in southern Gaza.

Some residents said they were not prepared to do so.

“They tell us to go south, but we won’t go because of the dangers and the army is shooting at people there,” 27-year-old Sami Asliya told AFP.

“There is no safe place, neither in the south nor in the north — everyone is at risk of death,” he said.

On Friday, Gaza’s civil defence agency reported 30 people killed in Israeli strikes in the area, including on schools being used as shelter by displaced people.

An AFP journalist in Gaza reported heavy shelling, explosions and gunfire Saturday further south in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday issued a stark warning to Lebanon, claiming the country could face a similar fate to Gaza if it continues to allow Hezbollah to operate within its borders. His statement came as the Israeli military intensified its offensive against Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern coastline, deploying additional troops and advising civilians to evacuate the region.

In a direct video address to the Lebanese people, Netanyahu urged them to free their country from Hezbollah’s grip to avoid further destruction. “You have an opportunity to save Lebanon before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza,” he said. The warning was clear: unless Hezbollah is dealt with, Lebanon risks enduring the same fate as Gaza, which has seen widespread devastation due to ongoing conflict.

“I say to you, the people of Lebanon: Free your country from Hezbollah so that this war can end,” Netanyahu said. 

لديكم فرصة لإنقاذ لبنان قبل أن يقع في هاوية حرب طويلة من شأنها أن تؤدي إلى الدمار والمعاناة كما نراه في غزة. pic.twitter.com/sLcxXvSh7X

— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 8, 2024

Hezbollah Fires Back

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated after the group claimed responsibility for firing rockets at the Israeli port city of Haifa. This attack came after the Israeli military reported that 85 projectiles had crossed the border from Lebanon into Israel. Hezbollah, which has shown no signs of letting up, threatened to continue firing on Israeli cities and towns if Israeli strikes on Lebanese population centres persisted.

The conflict has been simmering since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a devastating attack on Israel, killing over a thousand civilians. Since then, Hezbollah, a key ally of Hamas, has engaged in sporadic exchanges of fire with Israeli forces. Israel, meanwhile, has vowed to secure its northern border and protect its citizens from Hezbollah’s rocket attacks.

Hezbollah’s Leadership in Crisis

Hezbollah’s leadership has faced major setbacks in recent weeks. In late September, Israel killed its leader Hassan Nasrallah in an airstrike on Beirut. Nasrallah had led Hezbollah since 1992 and was widely considered one of the most powerful figures in Lebanon. His death marked a blow to the group, but Israeli strikes did not stop there. In October, Israel launched another bombing campaign in Beirut, targeting Hashem Safieddine, a senior Hezbollah figure widely believed to be Nasrallah’s successor.

While Hezbollah has not confirmed Safieddine’s death, Netanyahu seemed to suggest in his video address that both Nasrallah and Safieddine had been killed. 

Netanyahu in his address said Israel has “degraded Hezbollah’s capabilities; we took out thousands of terrorists, including [longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and his replacement’s replacement.”

“We struck Hezbollah’s intelligence headquarters in Beirut… this is the headquarters of the head of the intelligence division, Abu Abdullah Mortada,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said. “With him, we know that Hashem Safieddine was there. The results of this strike are still being looked into, Hezbollah is trying to hide the details. When we know, we will update the public.”

Israel’s Strategy

Having already targeted strongholds in southern and eastern Lebanon, Israel’s latest moves signal a shift towards the coastal areas, with civilians being urged to evacuate. On its Telegram channel, the Israeli military confirmed that the 146th Division had begun “localised, targeted operational activities” in southwestern Lebanon, directly aimed at Hezbollah infrastructure.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have not spared Beirut, with strikes targeting Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern suburbs of the city. This area is a key base of operations for Hezbollah. Israel has since dismantled Hezbollah tunnels leading into Israeli territory.

Hezbollah Remains Defiant

Despite these losses, Hezbollah remains defiant. Its deputy leader Naim Qassem declared that the group’s military capabilities were intact and that they were prepared for a protracted conflict. Qassem’s statement came even as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant described Hezbollah as a “broken organisation,” whose leadership had been decimated following the elimination of Nasrallah.

Gallant said the impact of Israel’s strikes, claiming that Hezbollah’s command structure was in disarray and that the group lacked leadership following the death of Nasrallah and other key figures. He also described Hezbollah’s firepower capabilities as significantly diminished, thanks to Israel’s focused military campaign. However, Hezbollah continues to maintain its presence along the Lebanese border.

The Shadow of Iran

This conflict is not limited to Israel and Hezbollah. The group is widely believed to be backed by Iran, which supplies it with weapons, funding, and political support. Israeli forces have clashed with Iran-backed militias across the region, including in Syria and Yemen. Just this week, an Israeli airstrike in Damascus targeted a building used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah, killing seven civilians, according to Syrian government reports.

Israel has also accused Hezbollah of using civilian areas as shields for their military operations, a tactic that has drawn widespread condemnation. Hezbollah, in turn, has pointed to the heavy civilian toll in Gaza as evidence of Israel’s indiscriminate use of force. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is dire, with nearly all of its 2.4 million residents displaced at least once due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment.

Tehran has long been a key backer of Hezbollah. In recent weeks, however, there have been reports that Iran may be seeking a ceasefire in Lebanon, possibly as a result of Hezbollah’s mounting losses.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi visited Beirut on Friday, voicing support for a ceasefire, but insisted that any agreement would have to be backed by Hezbollah.