Why Israel and Hezbollah Are Still Firing Amid a Cease-Fire
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Some violations of the truce, and some amount of violence, are to be expected, analysts say, and do not necessarily mean the deal will collapse and war will resume anytime soon.
A deal to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon went into effect last Wednesday, but already there have been multiple claims of cease-fire violations by either side.
They have continued to fire on each other, though at a far less intense pace, raising questions about the durability of the truce.
Here’s what’s to know.
No one is saying the deal has collapsed.
“I’ve been around Lebanon cease-fire agreements for decades, and there was no cease-fire agreement that wasn’t initially broken,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment and a former State Department Middle East analyst and negotiator.
The real question, he suggested, is whether the parties have the will to absorb violations and exercise restraint while they get through the initial 60-day phase.
Both sides are making claims of violations.
In statements over the weekend, the Israeli military said it had carried out strikes to enforce cease-fire violations, including killing Hezbollah militants and bombing the group’s facilities.
On Monday, Hezbollah said — and Israel confirmed — that it had fired munitions into a border area known as Shebaa Farms in response to a series of Israeli cease-fire violations, including airstrikes and shootings, over the previous days. It was the first time since the cease-fire that Hezbollah fired into Israel-controlled land. Both Lebanon and Israel claim Shebaa Farms as their own. Hezbollah said the strike was meant as a warning.