Israel’s ‘Ceasefire War’ Against Hezbollah Is Weakened by Trump’s Iran Diplomacy

How long can Israel fight Hezbollah in Lebanon with one hand tied behind its back, due to the delicate dance around President Trump’s Iran diplomacy? The question has been pressed by residents of northern Israel since a ceasefire was declared in Lebanon on April 16 as part of diplomacy to end the Iran war. Skirmishes between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces, though, are increasingly bloody. So much so that Israelis use an oxymoron, calling the current exchanges of fire the “Ceasefire War.” In Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet meeting this week, the IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, presented plans to, as he later described it publicly, “deepen the blow against Hezbollah across all of its terror systems.” As President Trump is attempting to negotiate a deal with Iran, though, Washington is leery about an escalation in Lebanon. America’s attempts to find a negotiated war-ending agreement with the Islamic Republic are moving at a snail’s pace. The Iranians are “negotiating on fumes,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday during a White House cabinet meeting. He indicated that he is in no rush to finalize the talks.The Iranians, Mr. Trump said, “thought they were going to outwait me, you know, ‘We’ll outwait him, he’s got the midterms.’ I don’t care about the midterms.” If talks fail, he added, though, “maybe we have to go back and finish it.” The Islamic Republic, meanwhile, is using its Hezbollah proxy as a negotiating tool. Hezbollah attacked Israel as retaliation for the February 28 killing of the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, despite objections from Lebanon’s war-weary silent majority. While negotiating the April 8 ceasefire in the Gulf, Tehran demanded to include Lebanon in the talks as well. Mr. Trump insisted that the two arenas are separate, but Washington nevertheless pressured Israel to at least end its strikes against Hezbollah targets at the capital, Beirut. The IDF is maintaining a narrow security zone known as the “yellow line” in southern Lebanon.Now Tehran again insists that any agreement on ending the Gulf war include Lebanon as well. At the same time it quietly encourages Hezbollah to escalate attacks on Israel, hoping to drag the IDF into an all-out war that would weaken Mr. Trump’s hand in negotiations. “Iran is trying to drive a wedge between Jerusalem and Washington, and Israel cannot allow the Iranians to succeed in this strategy,” a former spokesman of the Netanyahu government, Mark Regev, who is now ambassador to London, tells the Sun. Israelis, meanwhile, are uneasy with conditions near the Lebanese border. Hezbollah’s newest weapon — fiber optic-guided exploding drones — increasingly exacts IDF and civilian casualties, making daily life in northern Israel intolerable. Demands are growing to include IDF attacks on a Hezbollah stronghold at Beirut’s Dahiyeh district.“We are currently facing a complex situation with the United States regarding strikes in the Dahiyeh district,” Defense Minister Israel Katz reportedly told security cabinet members on Tuesday. “At the same time, we remain committed to defending ourselves by any means necessary. No one is stopping us.”The IDF is slowly widening its targeting beyond its southern Lebanon’s “yellow line.” On Wednesday IDF planes, after ordering local residents of Tyre to evacuate, pummeled the city. It also hit Hezbollah targets in northeast Lebanon’s Bekaa valley. Yet Israel still avoids Beirut, where Hezbollah operatives are hiding even outside of their Dahiyeh lair. Israeli officials stress that a distinction must be made between the government of Lebanon, which recognizes the need to disarm Hezbollah, and the Iranian proxy. Jerusalem and Beirut officials are scheduled to meet at the Pentagon Friday to discuss military strategies to end Hezbollah’s ability to disrupt Israeli-Lebanese diplomacy. “Over the last few days Israel has expanded its area of operations in Lebanon,” Mr. Regev noted. “Through dialog with the United States we will find solutions, and we will hit back against Hezbollah — but doing so in a way that we will win in Lebanon, but we won’t allow Iran to break up the coalition.”As national elections near, though, Mr. Netanyahu’s critics are extremely frustrated. “Israel can’t do what it needs to do” in Lebanon, a military analyst at Kan news, Itai Blumenthal, said Wednesday. He echoed a widespread argument that Israel’s security decisions are taken at Washington, rather than Jerusalem.

Israel’s ‘Ceasefire War’ Against Hezbollah Is Weakened by Trump’s Iran Diplomacy

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