Lebanon (MNN) — Lebanon remains a key battlefield in the war between the United States and Iran. An agreement signed on Friday seeks to end fighting in southern Lebanon by empowering the Lebanese military to disarm Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah.
Hezbollah flag
(Photo courtesy mhrezaa/Unsplash)
The agreement said Israel and Lebanon had agreed to launch a pilot program in two areas near the “yellow line,” which marks Israeli-held territory. Under the plan, Hezbollah would be dismantled, and the Lebanese army would gain control of those areas.
Hezbollah, which did not take part in the negotiations, rejected the agreement. Hezbollah MP Hassan Falallah told Al Mayadeen that Beirut would be unable to enforce the deal unless it was willing to risk a civil war.
Next steps
Key military leaders met yesterday to discuss how to implement the pact. The proposed “framework” for future talks between Israel and Lebanon drew mixed reactions from Lebanese citizens.
Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki says Friday’s trilateral agreement between Israel, Lebanon, and the U.S. is important because “Lebanon, as a nation, never has declared a war against Israel, nor has Israel declared a war against Lebanon.”
Instead, Melki says, “It has always been Hezbollah, now, and other paramilitary groups in the past decades, that have used the Lebanese territory as a launching pad for attacks against Israel.”
Civilians pay
Meanwhile, Lebanon is paying a heavy price for Hezbollah’s wars. The current conflict follows fighting that Hezbollah began in 2023 in defense of Hamas.
“For two years, Hezbollah and Israel have been tit-for-tat shelling each other in southern Lebanon. 11,000 homes have been destroyed, more than 4000 individuals have been killed, and more than 13,000 individuals have been injured,” Melki says.
“All those are innocent civilians; we’re not counting militants. Add to it the 1.2 million internally displaced folks, predominantly people from southern Lebanon, fleeing that region to Beirut and the Bekaa Valley.”
Help and hope
Heart for Lebanon helps people caught in the middle, Christian and Muslim alike. Find ways to support that work here.
(Photo courtesy Heart for Lebanon)
“There are more than 33 small villages along the borders between Lebanon and Israel where Christian villagers live and are completely disconnected from the rest of the world,” Melki says.
“We’re one of the very few faith-based Christian ministries that are able to reach these villages.”
Working alongside nongovernmental organizations, Heart for Lebanon helps organize an aid convoy to Christian villages in the war zone. First, the team gathers requests: “We receive a list of the material needed by those villagers through the municipality or elders in the village,” Melki says.
Next, the convoy is assembled: “Every NGO will bring in what they have as supplies, put them in a convoy led by the Red Cross, and then negotiate the safe passage of those trucks to the villages.”
Header image depicts Hezbollah flag. Photo courtesy Paul Keller via Flickr/CC-BY-NC 2.0.
