FACT SHEET: Beirut Blames Hezbollah — But Who Pushed Lebanon to the Brink?

By Palestine Chronicle Staff

Beirut vows it will “not allow” escalation — yet Israel’s sustained attacks are what brought Lebanon to the brink.

Overview

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam declared on Monday that Hezbollah’s strike on Israel was “an irresponsible and suspicious act that jeopardises Lebanon’s security and safety.”

“We will not allow the country to be dragged into new adventures,” he said.

But the question that must be asked is different: who dragged Lebanon into this escalation?

A review of the ceasefire record, documented Israeli violations, and the sequence of recent events indicates that Israel’s sustained military campaign inside Lebanon preceded Hezbollah’s latest attack — and helped set the stage for it.

Fact 1: Israel Violated the Ceasefire Repeatedly

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect in November 2024 after a devastating war.

However, Israel continued near-daily airstrikes, drone operations and artillery attacks inside Lebanon despite the truce.

In January, the Lebanese government formally filed a complaint with the United Nations documenting 2,036 Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty in just three months.

These violations included:

• Airspace incursions

• Drone surveillance

• Targeted assassinations

• Strikes in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley

• Bombing in the southern suburbs of Beirut

Hezbollah largely refrained from major retaliation during this period and urged the Lebanese state to address the violations diplomatically.

Fact 2: Hezbollah Strike is Retaliation

Hezbollah said its rocket and drone attack on a military base in Haifa was carried out “in defense of Lebanon and its people” and in response to “repeated Israeli aggressions.”

The group also linked the strike to the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, situating it within the broader regional war.

Israel’s response was swift and expansive.

Israeli jets bombed Beirut, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Additional strikes hit villages in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened that Hezbollah would pay a “heavy price” and declared its Secretary-General Naim Qassem “a marked target for assassination.”

Fact 3: Israel Issued Mass Evacuation Orders

Following the strikes on Beirut, Israel ordered residents in more than 50 villages in south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley to evacuate.

Such large-scale displacement warnings mirror tactics used during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, signaling preparation for sustained operations rather than a limited response.

Fact 4: The Pattern Preceded the Spark

Before Hezbollah fired rockets at Haifa:

• Israel had conducted thousands of violations during the ceasefire period.

• Israeli forces carried out regular strikes in Lebanese territory.

• Assassinations and bombardments continued despite diplomatic complaints.

Hezbollah’s strike came after months of documented Israeli military pressure inside Lebanon.

Framing the escalation as beginning with Hezbollah ignores the sustained pattern of Israeli actions that destabilized the ceasefire.

What the Record Shows

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, “We will not allow the country to be dragged into new adventures,” following Hezbollah’s attack.

However, the documented record shows that Israel had already been conducting sustained military operations inside Lebanon long before this latest exchange.

The escalation did not begin in Haifa. It unfolded after months of Israeli strikes, assassinations and airspace violations that eroded the ceasefire framework.

(The Palestine Chronicle)