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At War for Decades, Lebanon and Israel Agree a Rare Compromise

A UN peacekeeper (UNIFIL) vehicle drives near signs bearing names of cities, in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2022. (Reuters)
A UN peacekeeper (UNIFIL) vehicle drives near signs bearing names of cities, in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2022. (Reuters)
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At War for Decades, Lebanon and Israel Agree a Rare Compromise

A UN peacekeeper (UNIFIL) vehicle drives near signs bearing names of cities, in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2022. (Reuters)
A UN peacekeeper (UNIFIL) vehicle drives near signs bearing names of cities, in Naqoura, near the Lebanese-Israeli border, southern Lebanon, October 11, 2022. (Reuters)

Oct. 18 - Lebanon and Israel have agreed to a US-mediated agreement ending a decades-old dispute over their maritime boundary on Tuesday, a landmark compromise between countries with a history of war.

Here is a timeline of conflict between the states:

1948

Lebanon fights alongside other Arab states against the nascent state of Israel. Some 100,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in Palestine during the war arrive in Lebanon as refugees.

1949

Lebanon and Israel conclude an armistice agreement under UN auspices.

1968

Israeli commandos destroyed a dozen passenger planes at Beirut airport, a response to an attack on an Israeli airliner by a Lebanon-based Palestinian group.

1978

Israel invades south Lebanon and sets up an occupation zone in an operation against Palestinian guerrillas.

1982

Israel invades all the way to Beirut. The Syrian army is ousted from Beirut and thousands of Palestinian fighters under Yasser Arafat are evacuated by sea after a bloody 10-week siege.

Head of Christian militia Lebanese Forces, Bashir al-Gemayel, is elected president but killed before taking office.

Bashir's brother, Amin al-Gemayel, becomes president.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards establish Hezbollah in Lebanon.

1985

Israel establishes an occupation zone in southern Lebanon, about 15 km (nine miles) deep, after it pulled back from a line further north, controlling the area with a proxy force, the South Lebanon Army.

1996

With Hezbollah regularly attacking Israeli forces in the south and firing rockets into northern Israel, Israel mounts the 17-day "Operation Grapes of Wrath" offensive that kills more than 200 people in Lebanon, including 102 who die when Israel shells a UN base near the south Lebanon village of Qana.

2000

Israel withdraws from southern Lebanon, ending 22 years of occupation.

2006

In July, Hezbollah crosses the border into Israel, kidnaps two Israeli soldiers and kills others, sparking a five-week war. While most of the conflict is fought on land, an Israeli navy vessel is damaged in a Hezbollah missile attack. At least 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 158 Israelis, mostly soldiers, are killed.

2020

The United States revives indirect negotiations between Lebanon and Israel aimed at reaching an agreement on their disputed maritime boundary, with the aim of facilitating oil and gas exploration. Indirect US-mediated talks first began years earlier but never reached a conclusion.

2022

The Lebanese and Israeli governments agree to a US-brokered deal demarcating the maritime boundary, calling it historic. The deal opens the way to offshore oil and gas exploration, and defuses a potential source of conflict.

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Hezbollah’s ‘Statelet’ in Syria’s Qusayr Under Israeli Fire

Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
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Hezbollah’s ‘Statelet’ in Syria’s Qusayr Under Israeli Fire

Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)
Smoke billows from al-Qusayr in western Syria following an attack. (SANA)

Israel has expanded its strikes against Hezbollah in Syria by targeting the al-Qusayr region in Homs.

Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon in September and has in the process struck legal and illegal borders between Lebanon and Syria that are used to smuggle weapons to the Iran-backed party. Now, it has expanded its operations to areas of Hezbollah influence inside Syria itself.

Qusayr is located around 20 kms from the Lebanese border. Israeli strikes have destroyed several bridges in the area, including one stretching over the Assi River that is a vital connection between Qusayr and several towns in Homs’ eastern and western countrysides.

Israel has also hit main and side roads and Syrian regime checkpoints in the area.

The Israeli army announced that the latest attacks targeted roads that connect the Syrian side of the border to Lebanon and that are used to smuggle weapons to Hezbollah.

Qusayr is strategic position for Hezbollah. The Iran-backed party joined the fight alongside the Syrian regime against opposition factions in the early years of the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011. Hezbollah confirmed its involvement in Syria in 2013.

Hezbollah waged its earliest battles in Syria against the “Free Syrian Army” in Qusayr. After two months of fighting, the party captured the region in mid-June 2013. By then, it was completely destroyed and its population fled to Lebanon.

A source from the Syrian opposition said Hezbollah has turned Qusayr and its countryside to its own “statelet”.

It is now the backbone of its military power and the party has the final say in the area even though regime forces are deployed there, it told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“Qusayr is critical for Hezbollah because of its close proximity to the Lebanese border,” it added.

Several of Qusayr’s residents have since returned to their homes. But the source clarified that only regime loyalists and people whom Hezbollah “approves” of have returned.

The region has become militarized by Hezbollah. It houses training centers for the party and Shiite militias loyal to Iran whose fighters are trained by Hezbollah, continued the source.

Since Israel intensified its attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the party moved the majority of its fighters to Qusayr, where the party also stores large amounts of its weapons, it went on to say.

In 2016, Shiite Hezbollah staged a large military parade at the al-Dabaa airport in Qusayr that was seen as a message to the displaced residents, who are predominantly Sunni, that their return home will be impossible, stressed the source.

Even though the regime has deployed its forces in Qusayr, Hezbollah ultimately holds the greatest sway in the area.

Qusayr is therefore of paramount importance to Hezbollah, which will be in no way willing to cede control of.

Lebanese military expert Brig. Gen Saeed Al-Qazah told Asharq Al-Awsat that Qusayr is a “fundamental logistic position for Hezbollah.”

He explained that it is where the party builds its rockets and drones that are delivered from Iran. It is also where the party builds the launchpads for firing its Katyusha and grad rockets.

Qazah added that Qusayr is also significant for its proximity to Lebanon’s al-Hermel city and northeastern Bekaa region where Hezbollah enjoys popular support and where its arms deliveries pass through on their way to the South.

Qazah noted that Israel has not limited its strikes in Qusayr to bridges and main and side roads, but it has also hit trucks headed to Lebanon, stressing that Israel has its eyes focused deep inside Syria, not just the border.