Lebanese Defiant after Drone Strikes, Israelis near Border Unfazed

UN peacekeepers patrol the border with Israel in the village of Khiyam, Lebanon, August 26, 2019. (Reuters)
UN peacekeepers patrol the border with Israel in the village of Khiyam, Lebanon, August 26, 2019. (Reuters)
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Lebanese Defiant after Drone Strikes, Israelis near Border Unfazed

UN peacekeepers patrol the border with Israel in the village of Khiyam, Lebanon, August 26, 2019. (Reuters)
UN peacekeepers patrol the border with Israel in the village of Khiyam, Lebanon, August 26, 2019. (Reuters)

Lebanese farmers and residents of Beirut suburbs hit by drones at the weekend vowed on Monday to stand their ground in the event of any Israeli attack, amid heightened tensions between the Iran-backed Hezbollah party and Israel.

Two drones crashed on Sunday in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, prompting the group to warn Israeli soldiers at the border to await a response.

President Michel Aoun on Monday likened the drone strikes to “a declaration of war”.

Although Israel has not claimed responsibility for the Beirut attack, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah described it as the first Israeli attack inside Lebanon since a one-month war his party fought with Israel in 2006.

Workers harvesting okra near the border with Israel in southern Lebanon struck a defiant tone on Monday.

“Those who attack us, we are standing ready waiting for them,” said Abou Jamil, a sesame seeds farmer, according to Reuters.

Hassan Chalhoub, whose balcony in the Lebanese village of Kfarkila overlooks the border, said he was confident that Hezbollah was stronger than before and would protect the South.

“Times have changed,” he said.

The building of a Hezbollah media center in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahyeh had its glass windows blown out by one of the two drones when it exploded.

Mohamad Sarawan, who runs a barbershop next to that building, said he had not left his home in the 2006 war and he would also not “run away now”.

His customer Firas Darwiche said he would also stay put. “At the end of the day... we die with our heads held high.”

The Dahyeh suburb was left in ruins after the 2006 war, in which 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 158 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed.

Israeli residents unfazed

UN peacekeepers patrolled the streets in armored vehicles near the border in Lebanon on Monday as usual, and residents said Israeli jets cruised over the border towns.

Israel’s military said its northern command, responsible for the borders with Syria and Lebanon, was on elevated alert.

A Reuters cameraman in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights saw a fresh deployment of Israeli artillery as well as the usual armored forces, including tanks, that are stationed in the north and guard the frontier lines, with soldiers preparing shells and other equipment.

While soldiers remained vigilant on the Golan Heights, Israeli holidaymakers went rafting down a stream on the plateau where Israel and Syria fought wars in 1967 and 1973. No special alert has been declared for civilian communities in the north.

“I don’t really feel the (tension) here in the border. We live normally, we have fun, we go to the river,” said Oz Shachari, 25, a baker in the northern town of Kiryat Shmona.

Yaniv Elhadif, 44, said he lived near the border fence and had got used to bouts of tension: “We are not afraid, we are aware. They’re constantly provoking us... So we’re always with one ear and one eye open.”



Netanyahu’s Governing Coalition Is Fracturing. Here’s What It Means for Israel and Gaza

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on the day of a vote over a possible expulsion of Ayman Odeh from parliament, in Jerusalem, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on the day of a vote over a possible expulsion of Ayman Odeh from parliament, in Jerusalem, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu’s Governing Coalition Is Fracturing. Here’s What It Means for Israel and Gaza

 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on the day of a vote over a possible expulsion of Ayman Odeh from parliament, in Jerusalem, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on the day of a vote over a possible expulsion of Ayman Odeh from parliament, in Jerusalem, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government suffered a serious blow on Tuesday when an ultra-Orthodox party announced it was bolting the coalition.

While this doesn’t immediately threaten Netanyahu’s rule, it could set in motion his government’s demise, although that could still be months away. It also could complicate efforts to halt the war in Gaza.

United Torah Judaism's two factions said they were leaving the government because of disagreements over a proposed law that would end broad exemptions for religious students from enlistment into the military.

Military service is compulsory for most Jewish Israelis, and the issue of exemptions has long divided the country. Those rifts have only widened since the start of the war in Gaza as demand for military manpower has grown and hundreds of soldiers have been killed.

The threat to the government “looks more serious than ever,” said Shuki Friedman, vice president of the Jewish People Policy Institute, a Jerusalem think tank.

Netanyahu is on trial for alleged corruption, and critics say he wants to hang on to power so that he can use his office as a bully pulpit to rally supporters and lash out against prosecutors and judges. That makes him all the more vulnerable to the whims of his coalition allies.

Here is a look at Netanyahu's political predicament and some potential scenarios:

The ultra-Orthodox are key partners

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest serving leader, has long relied on the ultra-Orthodox parties to prop up his governments.

Without UTJ, his coalition holds just 61 out of parliament’s 120 seats. That means Netanyahu will be more susceptible to pressure from other elements within his government, especially far-right parties who strongly oppose ending the war in Gaza.

The political shake up isn't likely to completely derail ceasefire talks, but it could complicate how flexible Netanyahu can be in his concessions to Hamas.

A second ultra-Orthodox party is also considering bolting the government over the draft issue. That would give Netanyahu a minority in parliament and make governing almost impossible.

The ultra-Orthodox military exemptions have divided Israel

A decades-old arrangement by Israel’s first prime minister granted hundreds of ultra-Orthodox men exemptions from compulsory Israeli service. Over the years, those exemptions ballooned into the thousands and created deep divisions in Israel.

The ultra-Orthodox say their men are serving the country by studying sacred Jewish texts and preserving centuries’ old tradition. They fear that mandatory enlistment will dilute adherents’ connection to the faith.

But most Jewish Israelis see the exemption as unfair, as well as the generous government stipends granted to many ultra-Orthodox men who study instead of work throughout adulthood. That bitterness has only worsened during nearly two years of war.

The politically powerful ultra-Orthodox parties have long had outsize influence in Israel’s fragmented political system and used that status to extract major concessions for their constituents.

But a court last year ruled Netanyahu’s government must enlist the ultra-Orthodox so long as there is no new law codifying the exemptions.

Netanyahu’s coalition has been trying to find a path forward on a new law. But his base is largely opposed to granting sweeping draft exemptions and a key lawmaker has stood in the way of giving the ultra-Orthodox a law they can get behind, prompting their exit.

The political shake up comes during Gaza ceasefire talks

The resignations don't take effect for 48 hours, so Netanyahu will likely spend the next two days seeking a compromise. But that won't be easy because the Supreme Court has said the old system of exemptions amounts to discrimination against the secular majority.

That does not mean the government will collapse.

Netanyahu's opponents cannot submit a motion to dissolve parliament until the end of the year because of procedural reasons. And with parliament's summer recess beginning later this month, the parties could use that time to find a compromise and return to the government.

Cabinet Minister Miki Zohar, from Netanyahu’s Likud party, said he was hopeful the religious party could be coaxed back to the coalition. “God willing, everything will be fine,” he said. A Likud spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Once the departures become official, Netanyahu will have a razor-thin majority. The far-right parties within it could threaten to leave the coalition, further weakening him, if he gives in to too many of Hamas' demands.

Hamas wants a permanent end to the war as part of any ceasefire deal. Netanyahu's hard-line partners are open to a temporary truce, but say the war cannot end until Hamas is destroyed.

If they or any other party leave the coalition, Netanyahu will have a minority government, and that will make it almost impossible to govern and likely lead to its collapse. But he could still find ways to approve a ceasefire deal, including with support from the political opposition.

Israel may be on the path toward early elections

Netanyahu could seek to shore up his coalition by appeasing the far-right and agreeing for now to just a partial, 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, promising his governing partners that he can still resume the war once it expires.

But Netanyahu is balancing those political constraints with pressure from the Trump administration, which is pressing Israel to wrap up the war.

Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said she expects Netanyahu to work during those 60 days to shift the narrative away from the draft exemptions and the war in Gaza, toward something that could potentially give him an electoral boost – like an expansion of US-led normalization deals between Israel and Arab or Muslim countries.

Once the 60-day ceasefire is up, Netanyahu could bend to US pressure to end the war and bring home the remaining hostages in Gaza — a move most Israelis would support.

Elections are currently scheduled for October 2026. But if Netanyahu feels like he has improved his political standing, he may want to call elections before then.