How Lebanon became a managed stalemate

The pattern is now visible. On 1 June, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire. Within days, both sides violated it. On 5 June, Israeli airstrikes killed three Lebanese army officers and six others on a road south of Nabatiyeh. On 6 June, Israeli helicopters struck Beirut’s southern suburbs in retaliation for Hezbollah drone attacks. On 3 June, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem called the ceasefire agreement “absurd, humiliating, and insulting” and rejected it entirely. The ceasefire lasted less than a week before it became what all the previous ones became: a framework in name, warfare in practice. But here is what is not being said plainly: this is no longer a ceasefire breaking down. This is a ceasefire that was […]