Lebanon: We Received Warnings That Israel Is Preparing to Launch a Widespread Attack

Lebanese Foreign Minister, Youssef Raji, said on Friday that Lebanon received warnings from unnamed Arab and international entities indicating that Israel is preparing to launch a large-scale military operation against it. This was stated in remarks reported by the Lebanese National News Agency, where Raji mentioned that Beirut is intensifying its diplomatic communications "to protect Lebanon and its facilities from any potential strike." The Lebanese foreign minister added that "the ongoing meetings within the Mechanism Committee do not constitute traditional negotiations with Israel." The "Mechanism" Committee was established under the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that has been in effect since late November 2024, to monitor its implementation, and includes Lebanon, France, Israel, the United States, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Raji continued: "We seek to return to the truce agreement with Israel, while a peace treaty is far away at the moment." In this context, Raji believed that "Hezbollah's weapon has proven limited effectiveness in supporting Gaza and defending Lebanon." He affirmed that the Lebanese state is having a dialogue with Hezbollah, "to persuade it to surrender its weapons," noting that the party "refuses to do so until now." On August 5, the Lebanese Cabinet approved restricting arms, including those held by Hezbollah, to the state, and assigned the army to develop and implement a plan before the end of 2025. However, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, stated on several occasions that the party rejects this and demands the withdrawal of the Israeli army from all Lebanese territory. Foreign Minister Raji described the Iranian role in Lebanon and the region as "negative," saying that "Tehran's policies represent a source of instability." He pointed out that Lebanon has a "problem with Iran, but it is open to dialogue provided that it stops intervening in Lebanese internal affairs and financing any illegal organizations within the country," according to the agency. On Thursday evening, the Israeli public broadcasting authority (Kan 11) reported that the Israeli army "completed preparations in recent weeks to launch a large-scale attack against Hezbollah sites if the Lebanese government and army fail to fulfill their commitment to dismantle the party's weapons before the end of 2025." The authority quoted an unnamed security official as saying that "Israel has informed the United States that it will act independently to disarm Hezbollah if this is not done effectively, even if it leads to days of fighting or renewed confrontations on the northern front." This comes amid an Israeli escalation witnessed in Lebanese territories over the past weeks, including intense bombings of areas in the east and south of the country, in addition to carrying out assassinations of individuals allegedly from "Hezbollah." Israel has killed more than 4,000 people and injured about 17,000 others during its aggression against Lebanon, which it began in October 2023, before converting it in September 2024 into an all-out war. It has also breached the ceasefire agreement more than 4,500 times, resulting in hundreds of martyrs and wounded individuals, as well as occupying 5 Lebanese hills it controlled in the last war, in addition to other areas it has occupied for decades.