Israel is continuing with its daily attacks on southern Lebanon, and further escalation may be in the offing, with Israel’s military assessment dismissing the idea of diplomacy with Lebanon and instead advocating yet further airstrikes and ground invasions.
An airstrike was reported against the southern town of Kfar Dajjal, destroying a car. The exact casualty figures are not known, but there were reports of casualties on the scene. The IDF has not commented on the attack.
Further south overnight, in the village of Mays al-Jabal, Israeli ground troops crossed the border and demolished a civilian home. Here too, the IDF did not issue any statement about the operation, nor the pretext for raiding the country.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated his call for negotiations with Israel, while similarly chiding them for continuing to violate the ongoing ceasefire and urging the international community to convince Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanese soil. This was a term of the ceasefire, but Israel never fully withdrew and maintains multiple military outposts within southern Lebanon.
Israeli military sources have been telling the media that Israel’s Army has “so far refrained” from attacking the capital of Beirut, though they have attacked metro Beirut a few times, while saying if the escalation happens no place in Lebanon will be immune from Israeli strikes.
That seems to be the direction the military wants to go, saying the deadly daily attacks are “no longer sufficient.” The Israeli Northern Command will reportedly present options for further escalation of the conflict to the cabinet on Thursday.
Anticipating the approval of the escalation, the Israeli Air Force has already deployed a growing amount of their defensive force to the north and away from the defensive positions in the south, which were previously the focus to prevent missile strikes from Yemen. The assumption seems to be that the escalation will be so substantial that Hezbollah will start to retaliate against Israel, something that they’ve yet to do during the ceasefire.