Inevitable
Alarming Escalation: Lebanon Braces for Possible Full-Scale Israeli War as Tensions with Hezbollah Skyrocket
Israel is watching and waiting as Hezbollah re-arms and rebuilds with massive funding from Iran. The question on everyone's minds is: How long will Israel be content to wait for international permission to launch a ground assault?
Lebanon is gripped by mounting fear of an imminent return to all-out war with Israel, as accusations of Hezbollah rearmament threaten to shatter a fragile ceasefire just 13 months after devastating hostilities ended.
The truth is that even if the Lebanese army wanted to disarm Hezbollah, their military capabilities and equipment pale next to Hezbollah's. There are also rumors that Hezbollah is actually the de-facto Lebanese ruling power, which would explain why Lebanon has not managed to reign them in.
At the same time, US envoys to Lebanon, Morgan Ortgaus and Tom Barrack have also had enough of traveling to Lebanon for silly and pointless meetings with the Lebanese government. But the U.S does not want to allow Israel to return to war on any front, and this includes the Hezbollah front.
In a stark warning highlighted by The Washington Post today, Lebanese citizens and officials express dread that renewed conflict could erupt at any moment, devastating a nation still reeling from years of economic collapse and the 2024 war's destruction.
Israel has accused Hezbollah of systematically violating the November 2024 ceasefire by attempting to rebuild military capabilities in southern Lebanon. Near-daily Israeli airstrikes continue to target Hezbollah sites, while the terror group maintains a defiant stance, refusing full disarmament amid ongoing Israeli military presence in border areas.
The ceasefire, brokered by the United States and France following Israel's ground invasion of southern Lebanon in October 2024, halted over a year of intense cross-border fighting that killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands on both sides.
Lebanese authorities are reportedly scrambling to restrain Hezbollah in a desperate bid to avert catastrophe and protect the country's tentative recovery. Failure to contain the crisis, experts warn, risks plunging the region back into open warfare, with catastrophic humanitarian and economic consequences for an already fragile Lebanon.
As Hezbollah violations mount, the specter of escalation looms larger than ever, raising urgent concerns of a devastating new conflict breaking out without warning.