Hezbollah has plunged Lebanon into a war—one that will continue into the foreseeable future. The country was still reeling from a series of financial, social and political crises, and Israel's 2024 war that destroyed its villages and towns and displaced civilians.
Even Hezbollah itself appears unable to provide a coherent justification for this war, as statements made by various figureheads reveal.
Its first excuse for lobbing six rockets into Israel was that it was in retaliation for the assassination of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. But when they saw the negative reaction to its explanation from all corners of society, it shifted its reasoning to Israel's countless violations of a ceasefire agreement in place since November 2024, even though Hezbollah largely adhered to it.
The most dangerous aspect of Israel's war on Lebanon is what it has exposed: the hollowness of every pledge made by the Lebanese state. Despite the government saying that it had completed the first phase of disarming Hezbollah, declaring that the area south of the Litani had been cleared of weapons, within hours of the war’s outbreak, it became clear that arms were still present south of the Litani, just as they were to its north.
