Above photo: Lazar Berman/Times of Israel.
The Lebanese army recently entered the towns of Al-Bayada and Shamaa to find ‘everything razed to the ground’.
Israeli troops advanced into and heavily attacked the southern Lebanese village of Beit Lif on 2 January, in violation of the fragile ceasefire that Tel Aviv has been continuously breaching since it took effect in late November last year.
“The Roumieh area between Beit Lif and Yater was subjected to enemy artillery shelling,” Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Thursday afternoon, coming as Israeli forces entered and searched homes in the area.
According to Al Manar’s correspondent in the south, the Israeli army pushed into Beit Lif with several Merkava tanks, military hummers, a bulldozer, and infantry forces and began demolitions in the town. The sounds of heavy explosions and gunfire were heard.
Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli drone targeted the vicinity of a farm between the towns of Beit Lif and Yater with two missiles.
The new ceasefire violations occurred a day after the Israeli military set fire to homes in the Aitaroun-Bint Jbeil district.
In accordance with the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) entered the towns of Shamaa and Al-Bayada on 1 January. The two towns are among those that witnessed fierce clashes between the Lebanese resistance and the Israeli army during Tel Aviv’s failed ground operation in Lebanon, which began in early October and ended with the ceasefire on 27 November.
Al-Bayada and Shamaa were also heavily bombarded throughout the war that began in October last year.
NNA reported massive destruction of infrastructure – with entire neighborhoods and even the electricity network ravaged. “Everything was razed to the ground.”
Israel has violated the ceasefire – which is based on the implementation of UN Resolution 1701 – over 100 times since it took effect with deadly airstrikes, arrests of Lebanese citizens, troop advancements, and mass detonation campaigns in southern villages. Entire villages have been wiped out as a result of the demolition campaign.
Tel Aviv claims to be targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in the south, which the LAF was tasked to dismantle as per the agreement.
Israeli troops are required to withdraw from Lebanon within 60 days of the ceasefire’s announcement. So far, it has been over four weeks, leaving less than a month before the Israeli army must retreat, according to the agreement.
Security sources in Lebanon told The Cradle on 23 December that the Israeli army is unhappy with the LAF’s efforts to implement the ceasefire and is planning to maintain a presence in the south past the 60-day implementation period.
“Now is the opportunity for the Lebanese state to prove itself through political action,” Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Naim Qassem said in a speech on Wednesday, echoing recent comments by the resistance group’s MPs and officials.
Hezbollah officials have recently said that the current period represents a test for the Lebanese state regarding whether or not it will be able to protect the south from Israeli attacks and violations once the resistance is no longer present south of the Litani River.
“If the occupation takes any steps against Lebanon from the eastern front due to its expansion in Syria, we will carry out our national duty … anyone who believes that the resistance in Lebanon has weakened is deluded … We possess the resources and intellect to be in a position to confront the occupation. On the 61st day after the ceasefire, we will be in a position to make the Israeli enemy taste our wrath,” Hezbollah MP Ihab Hamadeh told Al Mayadeen on Wednesday.