The West

IDF forces continued counteracting Hezbollah’s presence in south Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire agreement and against the organization’s renewed efforts to rebuild it military capabilities. Structures in the Dahiyeh al-Janoubia in Beirut used by Hezbollah’s aerial unit to produce thousands of UAVs were attacked; Hezbollah denied Israel’s accusations and called on the Lebanese government to increase diplomatic pressure against "the violations and aggression." Senior figures in the Lebanese government also condemned the attacks and accused Israel of "violating" the country’s sovereignty and the ceasefire agreement; The prime minister of Lebanon stated that the Lebanese army had dismantled more than 500 "military sites" south of the Litani River. The Lebanese army threatened to stop cooperating with the ceasefire monitoring committee because of continued Israeli attacks, but conducted searches in the Dahiyeh al-Janoubia in coordination with the committee out of fear of another attack; The UN secretary general appointed a new UNIFIL commander. Lebanon will request the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate although Israel and the United States reportedly want to end it; Hezbollah praised its parliamentary faction’s meeting with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and claimed willingness to reach understandings. However, the organization emphasized that all disputed issues with Israel had to be resolved before there could be any discussion of its disarming; According to reports, a Palestinian delegation met with Lebanese army officers and stated a commitment to disarming in the Palestinian refugee camps, but admitted that they had rushed to set the timetable before agreeing on an organized mechanism for collecting the weapons. Read more...