SHOCKING Israel Shift In Lebanon As Ceasefire Deadline Looms.

Right, so with just four days remaining of the 60 day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, there have been a few changes amongst the Lebanese side, but where Israel has been concerned, they are no closer to getting out than they were on day one of the ceasefire it seems. Israel not keeping their word? Well you do surprise me Damo you might be thinking. Stll, it was the Lebanese government, it was Hezbollah, it was the Lebanese army and indeed UNIFIL observers too who have kept to their side of the blue line, kept to their side of the bargain and indeed made good on ceasing fire during a ceasefire, they have given Israel all the rope they needed to hoist themselves by their own petards, with well over 1000 breaches of said ceasefire now documented.
With four days to go though, Israel launching new attacks and seizing more territory is going the wrong way, yet this is exactly what they are doing, an escalation as time runs out to gain as much ground as possible before they get fired back on once as seems pretty much certain to now happen, Lebanon having honoured the ceasefire does have that right to defend itself does it not? Especially when condemnation of Israel has been pretty scant these last two months.
Right, so with all of the escalations in warfare happening elsewhere in the Middle East, the fact there was a ceasefire in place in Lebanon has meant that events there may have fallen off the front pages somewhat, and that’s pretty unfair really considering Israel have completely ignored the fact a ceasefire there was ever in place.
Of course there have been a few changes since I last picked up the story there, there’s a new President finally, in Joseph Aoun, when there wasn’t one when the ceasefire into effect and he has appointed a new Prime Minister too, the now former lead judge, the President of the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam, which unfortunately has meant the Vice President has stepped in to fill his shoes, the overtly pro Israel Julia Sebutinde, who has voted against every single censure of Israel that has come before the court, on many occasions standing alone in doing so.
Now on the face of it Joseph Aoun coming in is bad news for Israel. Where the armed forces have largely stood down in line with the ceasefire agreement, he’s not the sort to put up with Israel’s ongoing attacking and land seizures and aggression, having been a former commander of Lebanon’s armed forces himself and his rhetoric upon coming in as President is one of Israel having to get out and he has the contacts to do so, he is well liked by the US, which may or may not set off alarm bells in your head, but it means western leaders who hang on the US’s word will not immediately have beef with Aoun and equally he has good ties to the Saudis as well, who were pushing Lebanon, along with the US to hurry up and pick a President, the country having been without one for two years, though this actually isn’t unusual with the way Lebanon’s politics works. Therefore on that point Aoun coming in could also be seen as the guy the West and other Arab nations preferred and that’s a fair point. However even if that eventually turns out to be true, it doesn’t change the fact he wants Israel out of his country and those western backers of Israel will be finding it harder now to take one side over the other here.
His appointment for Prime Minister, the ICJ President Nawaf Salam has been just as vocal about the need for Israel to get out and perhaps now he’s no longer at the ICJ, we’ll get an idea of what he really thinks of Israel’s conduct. He resigned his post at the ICJ last week to take up the new role and in a speech he gave on the 14th of January, as covered by The Cradle:
‘Salam said he will work to “extend the authority of the Lebanese state over all its territories, and for the government to develop an integrated program to build a productive economy and provide job opportunities for generations.”
Vowing serious political reform, Salam added that “it is time to 'shake off' the administration that was based on clientelism.”
“After suffering due to the Israeli aggression and the economic crisis, it is time to start a new chapter of progress and opportunities. The most important challenges are to confront the results of the Israeli aggression … Full Israeli withdrawal from the last inch of our occupied lands must be imposed and the state's authority must be extended with its own forces in accordance with what was stipulated in the Taif Agreement,” he went on to say.
“A large part of our people still have their homes destroyed, as well as their institutions, and we must rebuild the villages in the Bekaa, the South, and Beirut. Reconstruction is not just a promise, but a commitment.”’
Israel might not be listening though. Despite the Lebanese side apparently meeting the terms of the deal, with Hezbollah leaving the area south of the Litani river and being replaced by Lebanese armed forces and certainly UNIFIL will have been collating the data to ensure this has happened, Israel have had the ongoing brass neck to claim otherwise despite them being required to clear Lebanon by the 26th of this month and instead they have very much been claiming to be taking on Hamas and chasing down Lebanese breaches of the ceasefire deal. It’s all a bit rich, especially given their demonstrable breaches vastly outnumbering any that may have occurred on the Lebanese side. Certainly accusations aimed at Hezbollah are going to be less easily proven, since they have, aside from a few incidents of warning shots being fired towards IDF intruders, abided by that ceasefire and have opted to count down the days until the 26th when the ceasefire ends.
Any hope that they won’t need to take up arms against Israel though are proving to be fanciful sadly.
Homes and infrastructure in Southern Lebanon continue to be destroyed, with reports of a house being destroyed in Bint Jbeil following the incursion into the Municipality of several Israeli Merkava tanks through Maroun al-Ras. Elsewhere in the District of Marjayoun, Israel pushed into Wadi al-Suluki where several homes and buildings were destroyed. These are not the actions of a force planning on leaving and indeed this is an opinion that since the ceasefire came into effect Israel have been claiming they will no longer do, thereby completely going against the agreed to ceasefire terms, in violation of it by their own words, but what does it matter when nothing happens? Remember France and the US are supposed to overseeing this ceasefire yet they’re doing what right now? Twiddling their thumbs and arguing over who invented French fries?
Yesterday an elderly man was killed by the IDF in southern Lebanon, a guy called Mohamad Termos. The Israelis then burnt his vehicle.
Overnight a massive detonation in the village of Houla was set off destroying several homes – in the middle of the night when occupied.
Further attacks and explosions have taken place in Taybeh, Kfarkila and Markaba overnight as well. And more besides. Absolute barbarity and so that question of where are these international overseers is once again very relevant.
Well the US is up to no good as ever it seems, as they’re busy apparently building the second largest US embassy in the world just outside of Beirut, it’ll be ten times larger than their embassy in London, it’s less an embassy more a fortress and although it has been under construction since 2017, matters have ramped up with it now, due for completion by 2026. At 43 acres, it’s literally bigger than any government building owned and run by the Lebanese government, it is ridiculous and what is it for? Why does it need to be so big because no reason for it has ever been given, but it’s very difficult to see it as being for anything other than giving the US another platform in the Middle East. It’s definitely more than an embassy at that size with only 86,000 Americans living in Lebanon.
All of a sudden the apparent closeness of Jospeh Aoun to the US doesn’t seem so rosy at all, if it ever did to begin with.
Israel have continued to try and justify their presences in southern Lebanon by saying look what we found under the trees, more guns, more explosives, it must be Hezbollah’s and perhaps it is, they might have left it when they left or just as likely it’s another Hamas weapons found behind hospital equipment story where Israel have planted them instead, frankly who’s prepared to take Israel at their word for anything here? They lie and they kill and they ignore ceasefires and they aren’t leaving, so little wonder Lebanese and Hezbollah rhetoric is one of tick tock, we’re counting down the days.
If they don’t ignore ceasefires they change the deal and even after a ceasefire is supposed to start changes can be forced through as Benjamin Netanyahu proved regarding the Gaza ceasefire, last minute attempt to wreck it completely or just get his own way over something in particular knowing at the nth hour Hamas were unlikely to say no? You decide, but get all the details of that particular story in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch, please do also hit like, share and subscribe to the channel as well to help support it which is enormously appreciated but to also ensure you don’t miss out on new daily content and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.