Israel Exploiting Hezbollah’s Weakened Position in Lebanon to Assassinate its Members

A firefighter douses the flames of a car hit by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Burj al-Muluk on March 15, 2025, in which one person was reportedly killed. (AFP)
A firefighter douses the flames of a car hit by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Burj al-Muluk on March 15, 2025, in which one person was reportedly killed. (AFP)
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Israel Exploiting Hezbollah’s Weakened Position in Lebanon to Assassinate its Members

A firefighter douses the flames of a car hit by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Burj al-Muluk on March 15, 2025, in which one person was reportedly killed. (AFP)
A firefighter douses the flames of a car hit by an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese village of Burj al-Muluk on March 15, 2025, in which one person was reportedly killed. (AFP)

Israel is waging a law intensity war against Hezbollah in Lebanon by assassinating its suspected members and fighters taking advantage of the Iran-backed party’s inability to retaliate to the attacks to avoid the eruption of an all-out war again.

Israel has carried out assassinations against Hezbollah south and north of Litani since the ceasefire in the war took effect in November.

The party appears to be restricted by the conditions imposed by the ceasefire and its new weakened position in Lebanon, leaving the Lebanese state with the responsibility to handle Israeli violations.

In its latest attack on Hezbollah, Israel said on Saturday that it assassinated a member who “had taken part in terrorist activity” in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel is imposing through its attacks a buffer zone along the border with Lebanon that is largely empty of civilians given the extent of the damage incurred in the war.

Israel is expanding the area of its attacks slightly north of the border by targeting people suspected of being Hezbollah members or even supporters, they added.

Figures close to Hezbollah said Israel is taking advantage of the “green light” given to it by the international community to go ahead with its attacks in Syria, Gaza and southern Lebanon, where it is violating the ceasefire and United Nations Security Council resolution 1701.

It is also exploiting the political restrictions that are “tying Hezbollah’s hands” in Lebanon that do not allow the party to respond to the Israeli attacks.

The new conditions imposed by the war have forced Hezbollah to join political work and suspend military activities, while continuing to refuse to lay down its weapons.

The party is coming under Lebanese and international pressure to refrain from retaliating to the Israeli attacks that could prompt Tel Aviv to launch a wide-scale war against Lebanon again.

Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem had days earlier said the party is committed to the ceasefire and will not give Israel excuses to violate it.

Hezbollah’s opponents told Asharq Al-Awsat that the party is being restricted from acting given the new president and government in Lebanon.

Hezbollah does not want to become embroiled in a confrontation with them, they stressed, so it is “placing its cards with the state.”

Should the state fail in stopping the Israeli violations, and should diplomacy also fail, then it may resort to discussing a defense strategy that would include Hezbollah.

Another area that is restricting Hezbollah is the reconstruction of areas destroyed by Israel during the war.

Should Hezbollah violate the ceasefire, then the international community may consider holding back any financing of reconstruction, said the sources.

Moreover, the party is being restricted by its own Shiite popular base. A new war would risk their displacement yet again and jeopardize their support to Hezbollah, they added.



Israel Says Two Hezbollah Members Hit in South Lebanon Airstrike

This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Israel Says Two Hezbollah Members Hit in South Lebanon Airstrike

This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
This picture taken from a position in northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, shows an Israeli flag (L) on a destroyed building, and a Lebanese flag (R) painted on a damaged building in the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on November 25, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in southern Lebanon on Monday targeting two Hezbollah members, with Lebanese health authorities reporting one person killed and three wounded.

It was the latest in a series of deadly strikes in the area despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in November after more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

"A short while ago, two Hezbollah terrorists who served as observation operatives and directed terrorist activities were struck by the (military) in the area of Yohmor in southern Lebanon," the army said in a statement.

The Lebanese health ministry's emergency unit said the "Israeli airstrike on a van in the village of Yohmor... led to one death", according to the official National News Agency (NNA), adding that three other people were wounded.

The agency reported that an Israeli drone had targeted a motorcycle with two riders, but a passing van was also hit by shrapnel, and "fires erupted in it" and a nearby shop.

The attack came a day after NNA and the health ministry reported four deaths in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday that the military had targeted the south Lebanon town of Ainata after "a stray bullet from a Hezbollah operative's funeral" hit the windshield of a vehicle in the northern Israeli community of Avivim.

"We will not allow shooting from Lebanese territory toward northern communities -- we will respond strongly to any violation of the ceasefire," Katz said.

Israel's military also said "a gunshot hit a parked vehicle in the area of Avivim. No injuries were reported. The shot most likely originated from Lebanese territory."

NNA cited the health ministry as saying that the strike on Ainata "led to the death of two people", after reporting earlier fatalities in Israeli strikes on Mais al-Jabal and Bint Jbeil, also in south Lebanon.

The November 27 truce largely halted the fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, which included two months of open war in which Israel sent in ground troops.

But Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect.

Under the agreement, Israel had been expected to withdraw from Lebanon by February 18 after missing a January deadline, but it has kept troops at five locations it deems "strategic".

The ceasefire also required Hezbollah to pull back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border, and to dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.