Hezbollah
The Lebanese government is the sole legitimate interlocutor for discussions over the country’s future, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said.
The operation followed an overnight drone attack on Israeli troops at the Ali al-Taher Ridge.
The “model areas” where the Lebanese Armed Forces are being deployed are making progress, said American diplomat Michel Issa.
The faction is “an extension” of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and is “not a Lebanese resistance movement,” a State Department official said.
Security experts told JNS that the Iranian terror proxy has adapted to financial pressure through informal cash networks, complicating efforts to curb its rearmament and weaken its support base.
Israeli forces killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s Badr Unit in Southern Lebanon following the group’s attack on three soldiers within the Security Zone.
Israeli and American officials denounced the Iranian proxy group for deliberately placing civilians in combat zones.
The law provides amnesty for family members of former South Lebanese Army militiamen but does not extend the same provision to the former fighters.
The sides finalized plans to expand pilot zones in southern Lebanon as part of a U.S.-brokered framework aimed at restoring Lebanese sovereignty and disarming Hezbollah, the official said.
The Islamist group is “just as committed to terrorism today” as it was on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Doron Spielman.
The fatalities were identified as Maj. (res.) Harel Birenstock, 34, from Nokdim, and Chief Master Sgt. (res.) Tamir Vaknin, 33, from Eilat.
