Hezbollah with its back to the wall: "The fall of the hill is only a matter of time"
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are deadlocked over the demand to disarm Hezbollah. Meanwhile, a Lebanese report claims that the IDF is tightening control around the Ali al-Taher hill and that the situation of Hezbollah and IRGC forces is deteriorating.
The stalemate in the negotiations between Lebanon and Israel no longer requires complex interpretations. According to reports in the Lebanese media, the diplomatic track, which was supposed to lead to a gradual Israeli withdrawal and the establishment of new security arrangements, is currently colliding with the main obstacle of all: Hezbollah's weapons. While Beirut prepares for an eighth round of talks, the date for which has not yet been set, the message from Tel Aviv is sharp and clear — there will be no withdrawal and no final settlement will be reached before the weapons are transferred exclusively to the Lebanese government, and the "illegal weapons" phase ends.
Sources in Lebanon clarify that American pressure on Israel is simply not enough. While Washington can push for the resumption of negotiations and withdrawal from test areas, it is unable to generate for the "Land of the Cedars" the sovereignty it has lost. According to a report in the Lebanese newspaper "Nidaa al-Watan", the problem is not limited only to Hezbollah's weapons, but also includes the Iranian presence and the Revolutionary Guards based in the region.
The situation on the ground is playing in favor of the IDF. A security source revealed to the Lebanese newspaper, which opposes Hezbollah, that the fierce battles raging around the Ali al-Taher hill prove that Israel is determined to conquer the hill and the network of tunnels within it at any cost. According to security assessments in Lebanon, the IDF is carrying out many secret operations in the area far from the media's eye. The security source added that the combat condition of Hezbollah and Revolutionary Guard fighters is dire, especially regarding supply lines. The IDF currently controls the hill and the exit routes from it, and therefore "its fall is only a matter of time".
Parallel to the security crisis, Lebanon is dealing with large-scale destruction. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, in his meeting with the World Bank representative, emphasized the urgent need for financial aid to provide a response to more than 600,000 citizens who returned to the affected areas. In the internal political arena, the Lebanese parliament is trying to promote a series of sensitive laws, including the abolition of the death penalty, a new media law, and a general amnesty law that is sparking fierce controversy with the Lebanese army, which opposes the release of prisoners whose sentences have been finalized.
Against this backdrop, the Lebanese government is also examining energy alternatives by reviving the historical oil pipelines from Kirkuk and Basra in Iraq, through Syria, to the refining facilities in Tripoli. In the legal sphere, the systemic collapse continues with the decision of the Prosecutor General in Beirut to file indictments for financial crimes against the former Governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh, and the Chairman of Bank Audi.
It should be recalled that in recent weeks, the IDF has been trying to defeat Hezbollah on the Ali al-Taher ridge using drones with powerful loudspeakers. After blowing up and destroying Hezbollah's strategic tunnels on the Beaufort ridge, the IDF is now trying to advance the effort to get the dozens of organization terrorists trapped inside several tunnels on the ridge out, while the terrorists have been surrounded by forces of the IDF's 36th Division.
As part of the effort, the IDF is working to pressure the terrorists to come out and surrender or fight outside the tunnels. The IDF has chosen several methods, including infiltrating drones and operating powerful loudspeakers around the clock, with the goal of exhausting the terrorists trapped in the tunnel.
