Israel Confirms it Violated Ceasefire 1,100 Times to Attack Hezbollah

The Israel Defence Forces have confirmed repeatedly violating a ceasefire agreed with Iran and the United States in early April, announcing that it has struck over 1,100 targets belonging to Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah since the agreement, killing more than 350 personnel. “The IDF has eliminated more than 350 terrorists in southern Lebanon who posed a threat to Israeli civilians and IDF troops, as part of operations carried out within the framework of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon, alongside more than 1,100 Hezbollah terrorist organization targets that were struck,” it reported. Israel and countries across the Western world have designated Hezbollah to be a terrorist organisation, although the United Nations and the large majority of UN member states have applied no similar designations, which has allowed the group to retain close ties with many major state actors including Russia and Iran. 

After Israel and the United States initiated a full scale military assault against Iran on February 28, Hezbollah the following day opened a second front against Israel, with footage in early March showing successful strikes on Israeli tanks among a wide range of other engagements. Israeli forces responded by launching a full scale invasion of southern Lebanon, and by intensively targeting population centres across the region causing the displacement of hundreds of thousands. In mid-March Hezbollah reported multiple successes during engagements Israeli Army units, including the destruction of several Merkava main battle tanks. Multiple ambushes launched against Israeli forces have been highly successful, with the highest reported losses being incurred on March 26 when 21 Israeli Merkava tanks were reported destroyed within 24 hours. 

Israeli sources have widely indicated that recent ground force losses have been unprecedented since at least the 1980s, when they faced the Syrian Arab Army and local paramilitary groups in Lebanon as part of a prior war effort. Widespread use of radio- and fibre-optic controlled first person view drones has made mobile warfare exceptionally difficult, and have been effectively integrated into, Hezbollah’s doctrine that merges guerrilla and conventional tactics. Dozens of pieces of footage have shown successful Hezbollah drone strikes on Israeli targets, ranging from Merkava tanks to artillery stockpiles and surface-to-air missile batteries from the Iron Dome system.