Israeli Attacks Wound Two in Lebanon on Day 2 of Cease-Fire

Experts on the Middle East warned this week that a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah could be temporary, and reports out of southern Lebanon on Thursday indicated they were correct as security sources said two people were injured in Israeli strikes on the village of Markaba.

The truce went into effect early Wednesday after being brokered by the United States and France, with Israeli forces given 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon.

But one day after the deal went into effect, an Associated Press correspondent in northern Israel reported that they heard artillery strikes across the border in Lebanon as well as Israeli drones.

On Thursday morning, Israeli tanks hit the southern Lebanese towns of Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, Khiyam, and Taybe, according to Lebanese state media and security sources, injuring at least two people.

All the areas lie within two kilometers (1.24 miles) of the Lebanon-Israel border.

Hassan Fadlallah, a member of Lebanese Parliament who is part of the Hezbollah March 8 alliance, said Israel had attacked civilians who were "returning to the border villages."

"There are violations today by Israel, even in this form," he told reporters.

Thousands of Lebanese people began returning to their homes in the southern part of the country after the cease-fire deal went into effect, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should not allow civilians back into southern villages. His order contradicted a statement by Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, who led cease-fire negotiations and said Wednesday that residents could return home.

Israel imposed a last-minute curfew on Wednesday night, prohibiting Lebanese citizens from crossing into the south overnight.

The IDF then accused Hezbollah of violating the cease-fire, announcing on Thursday: "Over the past hour, several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the cease-fire. The IDF opened fire toward them."

Drop Site News noted that the deal bars Hezbollah from carrying out "any operations" against Israel but only prohibits Israel from conducting "offensive" attacks in Lebanon.

"It's kind of a bit insidious where they say 'offensive,' meaning somehow there's this little kind of wiggle room for what they will interpret as defensive, which in Israeli logic and discourse and action means anything," Karim Makdisi, a professor of international politics at the American University in Beirut, told Drop Site News. "Anything can happen. They can say, 'Well, this is defense.' Even the genocide in Gaza, as far as they're saying, is defensive."

Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News said the Biden administration has attempted to "rig the deal" and allow Israel to strike in Lebanon as it sees fit, providing Israel with a "letter of guarantee" that recognizes "Israeli freedom of action on Lebanese soil" if any attempts are made to strengthen Hezbollah.

The U.S. State Department refused to comment on the letter when asked about it by Scahill.

Since October 2023, Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,823 people and injured at least 15,859.