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Israel Signals Determination to Continue Lebanon Truce Enforcement
Supporters of Hezbollah attend a protest organized by them against what they said was a violation of national sovereignty, near Beirut international airport, Lebanon, February 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Emilie Madi
JNS.org – Israel is signaling firm resolve with regard to enforcing the ceasefire arrangement with Lebanon and preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding its terrorist army in the south of the country, while preparing to withdraw from Southern Lebanon on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Recent Israel Defense Forces operations in response to Hezbollah truce violations reflect a new reality in which Jerusalem will no longer passively stand by and watch Hezbollah rebuild its offensive capabilities.
Yoni Tobin, a senior policy analyst at the Washington D.C.-based Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told JNS on Feb. 14 that “despite the predictable unfounded criticism, Israel has demonstrated both the willingness and ability to enforce the ceasefire in response to Hezbollah’s flagrant violations.”
Recent Israeli strikes against Hezbollah threats across Lebanon, he said, “including in not only the south but also the eastern Beqaa Valley, show Israel’s resolve to end its adversaries’ habitual practice of using ceasefires to rearm, regroup, and again threaten the lives of Israeli citizens.”
Tobin further noted that “American backing for Israel’s freedom of action and the US leadership role in the ceasefire oversight mechanism, including spurring the long-apathetic LAF [Lebanese Armed Forces] into action, have been indispensable ingredients of the ceasefire’s overall success.”
As the IDF moves toward its scheduled withdrawal from Southern Lebanon, questions remain about how Israel will enforce the arrangement after the IDF redeploys. It appears highly likely that cross-border ground raids and airstrikes will continue in response to intelligence of violations, and that the precedent for this is already being set.
Moreover, according to international media reports on Feb. 14, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said that he had been notified by the United States that Israel would withdraw on Feb. 18, but would remain at five positions in southern Lebanon close to the Israeli border. This aligns with a Feb. 12 report by Israel’s Kan public broadcaster according to which “the IDF is building five new outposts in Lebanon from which it does not intend to withdraw.”
There has been no confirmation from Israeli authorities at this stage regarding Israel’s intentions regarding these five positions.
According to senior JINSA policy analyst Tobin, “Israel maintains both the capacity and the right, made explicit in the ceasefire deal’s provisions, to prevent Hezbollah from again posing a threat to the Israeli homeland.” He argued that “regardless of how it does so, whether exclusively through airstrikes or by retaining a limited number of strategic outposts across the Blue Line as has been reported, Israel will need to keep acting decisively against Hezbollah to ensure Israel’s northern residents can safely and permanently return home.”
In addition, he said, “Continuous US support for Israel’s freedom of action, direct US supervision of the ceasefire’s enforcement and US pressure on the LAF to push the momentum against Hezbollah across Lebanon will be crucial elements of a successful and lasting arrangement.”
Meanwhile, it seems that hardly a day goes by without IDF action to enforce the truce, thwarting not only Hezbollah but also Iran.
On Feb. 12 IDF Arabic-language Spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee stated that “the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah have been exploiting civilian flights arriving at Beirut Airport in recent weeks to transfer money intended to rearm Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
This message was a clear warning to Lebanese authorities; It appears as though the truce monitoring mechanism led by US military officer Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers and comprising Lebanese, United Nations and French representatives, was unable to act to stop the terror financing flights from Iran.
The next day, the Lebanese army fired shots to remove Hezbollah protesters from the airports’ vicinity, after the Lebanese government banned an Iranian flight landing in Beirut. According to AFP, on Feb. 14, Lebanon prevented a second Iranian flight from landing for fear of Israel’s reaction.
“Through the Americans, Israel informed the Lebanese state that it would target the airport if the Iranian plane landed in Lebanon,” the AFP reported.
These developments have led to clashes between the LAF and pro-Hezbollah Shi’ite activists, as well as attacks on UNIFIL vehicles and commanders.
The deputy commander of UNIFIL was injured on Feb. 14 after his convoy to Beirut Airport was set upon by pro-Hezbollah activists.
The post Israel Signals Determination to Continue Lebanon Truce Enforcement first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.