Israeli Army Continues Lebanon Offensive as Netanyahu Says Hezbollah Is “In Retreat”
The Israeli army continues its offensive against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon Tuesday morning. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hezbollah is “in retreat” amid the continued IDF operations. The IDF strike on Beirut’s Dahieh after Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel was reportedly coordinated with the United States; Lebanese media said two were killed and 11 wounded in the strike. Israeli forces remain at the Beaufort Castle / Beaufort Ridge / Wadi al-Saluki line beyond the Litani River.
Dahieh is Hezbollah’s political-administrative heartland and houses the movement’s leadership infrastructure. The IDF coordination-with-US framing on the Dahieh strike contradicts the Trump-engineered cessation announcement from last Tuesday; the operational coordination indicates the Trump administration has reverted to backing Israeli operational latitude in Lebanon despite the Wednesday-signed conditional ceasefire. Iran’s “crushing reprisal” conditional on Lebanon fighting is the structural pressure point for halting further escalation. The combined picture — Israeli army continuing Lebanon, IRGC paused but conditionally, Houthis Red Sea ban, Trump tougher terms unanswered — is the most diplomatically complex regional posture since the early-summer phase of the war began.