It’s the last week before Israel’s elections, and the concern around Syria that there may be a pre-election “surprise” seems palpable. The belief is that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu may seek to politically benefit from a new operation within southern Syria in the next few days. And while Israel’s ongoing military operations in Syria are […]

Israeli forces continued to carry out heavy airstrikes against southern Lebanon today, with locals reporting airstrikes, drone strikes, and artillery shelling across the region, with attacks reported as far north as Nabatieh al-Fawqa, a town that has repeatedly come under fire of late. Mayfadoun was also under particularly severe targeting, with Israeli drones firing into the […]

A week before the Israeli elections, their assorted offensive wars are becoming a particularly important issue, and high ranking figures are attaching themselves to various hawkish narratives, particularly as related to the ongoing invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon. Defense Minister Israel Katz has been at the fore in this regard. Last week he threatened […]

Last week, the New York Times released the results of its investigation into the ongoing Israeli invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon and found that some 48 towns and villages had been destroyed by IDF forces. Defense Minister Israel Katz, in a weekend appearance on Israel’s Channel 14, bragged that the number is even higher. […]

Israeli military ground raids into southwest Syria continued to happen in growing numbers this weekend, with troops raiding multiple towns and villages in Daraa and Quneitra Governorates. At least four Syrian civilians were reported captured over the course of the weekend’s operations. One was reported captured Saturday during the operations around al-Razaniyah, in northern Quneitra, […]

Starting in late September, the annual olive harvest is an economically important part of life for residents of many southern Lebanese towns and villages in the Autumn. This year, however, they’re finding themselves under serious limitations by the new Israeli military occupation. Though the IDF made much of the idea that they’re allowing workers to […]

Violence against Palestinians and the press has been on going problem in Israel in general for years, but the level of such incidents in the occupied West Bank has reached a fevered pitch in recent months, with Israeli settlers attacking people with virtual impunity. The latest attack saw Washington Post veteran photojournalist Heidi Levine among […]

Earlier this week, Lebanese officials seized a truckload of explosives in the northeastern Hermel region, leading to accusations from some of the officials of an impending Hezbollah assassination campaign involving bombs. On Thursday, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah confirmed that the explosives belonged to the group, but insisted that there was no assassination program, and that […]

Like most nights, Wednesday night saw Israeli forces carry out artillery strikes and airstrikes across southern Lebanon, with reports of strikes hitting multiple municipalities across the Tyre, Nabatieh, and Bint Jbeil Districts. Those strikes included some casualties in the town of Haddatha, in Bint Jbeil, where an Israel airstrike wounded two civilians, one of them […]

Israeli troops continued cross-border operations into southwest Syria’s Quneitra and Daraa Governorates again today, harassing civilians and damaging and confiscating private property in the areas. Troops backed by eight military vehicles entered the area west of Mazraat al-Hanout, in Quneitra’s countryside, expelling a number of shepherds from the area, and opening fire on a civilian […]

Anticipating another round of war with Hezbollah despite the fact that the current Israeli invasion of Lebanon hasn’t even ended, Defense Minister Israel Katz laid out a litany of threats against Lebanon that would happen if Hezbollah “joins Iran” in any attack on Israel. Katz declared that the territory around Nabatieh and the Litani River […]

Adding a new level of complexity to Israeli military activity in southwestern Syria, the IDF has now imposed a strict curfew on some villages within Quneitra, including Hodr. The curfew strictly forbids all non-locals from being within a given village after 7:00 pm. The restriction includes a warning for all employers within the village to […]

Last week it was reported that Iran had provided Hezbollah with some $200 million to help provide for those Lebanese civilians who lost homes so far during the Israeli invasion. Today, Hezbollah began to provide details about how the program would work. The plan is to provide $14,000 to families that lost homes in Beirut […]

Since relatively early in the current Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, the IDF has made a priority of destroying Lebanese villages en masse. In late June, Defense Minister Israel Katz said that certain Lebanese villages would have to “disappear,” and over the course of the summer, that’s exactly what has happened. The latest analysis of […]

After two people were reported killed over the weekend in southern Lebanon, an addition two people were reported killed today and at least 19 others wounded along both sides of the border, in this case seemingly entirely from unexploded ordinance left there earlier in the war. The death in Lebanon was a member of security […]

Israeli forces carried out a strike against a car inside northwestern Lebanon near the Syrian border, wounding six people. Five of the wounded were Syrian nationals and two of them were women. The sixth person was a Lebanese citizen. The strike took place on the outskirts of Hawsh al-Sayyid Ali, along the border between Syria’s […]

Over the course of September, Israel carried out no less than 280 separate incursions into southwest Syria, and they currently hold at least 49 Syrians in detention, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reports. Those detained civilians who are ultimately released by the IDF reported instances of torture, including beatings, prolonged standing in stress […]

It’s olive harvest season for agriculture-heavy southern Lebanon, and while more than a few olive groves have been destroyed outright by the ongoing Israeli invasion, the ones that remain are active with people trying to harvest the year’s crops. Two people have been killed over the course of the harvest of Sunday, both as a […]

Among the towns and villages impacted by Israel’s incursions into southwest Syria, few have had more problems than Jabata al-Khashab. The village, in northern Quneitra Governorate, is within the UNDOF demilitarized zone and subsequently is de facto occupied by the Israeli military, who seized much of the UNDOF zone starting at the end of 2024. […]

With Hezbollah squarely in the political opposition, Lebanese officials have been hoping for awhile that the ongoing Israeli invasion would further alienate Hezbollah from the public, as an active combatant force and, at least by Israel’s framing, the reason for the conflict. That’s been a polarizing issue, however, and Hezbollah is likely to score a […]