The bombs fell again on southern Lebanon early this morning. Israeli warplanes targeted what the military described as 'Hezbollah infrastructure' near the border. But the broader ceasefire, patched together after weeks of shuttle diplomacy, has not collapsed. Not yet.
This is the pattern now. A strike. A denial. A muted response. The truce is partial and it is fragile. Sources on the ground confirm that Hezbollah has held its fire, at least for now. But the calculus on both sides is shifting by the hour.
The strike hit a site just north of the Litani river. The Israeli military says it was a response to 'suspicious activity'. Local officials say there were no casualties. But the message was clear: Israel will enforce the terms of this ceasefire by any means necessary. And Hezbollah, for its part, is weighing the cost of retaliation.
Documents obtained by this newsroom show that the ceasefire was never meant to be permanent. It was a pause, a breathing space for both sides to resupply. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrols the buffer zone but their mandate is weak. They can observe but they cannot stop the next escalation.
Behind the scenes, the intermediaries are working overtime. Iran holds the key to Hezbollah's next move. And Israel's security cabinet is divided. Hardliners want to push deeper into Lebanon. Pragmatists warn of a second front.
For the civilians on both sides of the border, this is a cruel limbo. In southern Lebanon, families have returned to ruined villages. In northern Israel, schools remain closed. The truce holds for now. But everyone knows it is a thin sheet of glass over a furnace.
Follow the money. Hezbollah's funding streams have been disrupted by sanctions but the flow has not stopped. Iranian oil dollars keep the militia's coffers full. And Israel's defence budget has been bolstered by emergency allocations. This is not a war of ideology. It is a war of logistics.
The question now is not whether the truce will break but when. Every stray rocket, every drone incursion, every political speech pushes the needle closer to all-out conflict. The partial ceasefire may hold for days or weeks. But the conditions for a wider war are already set.
For now, the diplomats claim progress. But in the field, the soldiers prepare. And the journalists count the bodies yet to fall.
