Lebanon\u2019s prime minister, Nawaf Salam, reacted swiftly. He banned Hezbollah\u2019s military wing<\/a> calling its activities \u201cillegal\u201d and ordering the Lebanese security forces to \u201cprevent any attacks originating from Lebanese territory\u201d. Hezbollah ignored his call and continued to pound northern Israel, while engaging with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on the ground.<\/p>\n Both sides \u2013 the Israeli government and Hezbollah \u2013 have framed the use of military force as necessary to protect their respective communities. This is nothing new. When referring to Hezbollah during his speech at the 2024 annual gathering of the United Nations general assembly, Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu explicitly made this link. \u201cIsrael has every right to remove this threat,\u201d he declared<\/a>, \u201cand return our citizens to their homes safely, and that is exactly what we are doing\u201d.<\/p>\n Hezbollah\u2019s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah (since assassinated in an Israeli strike on Beirut in September 2024<\/a>) made a similar case of using military force to defend communities across Lebanon earlier that same year. After Israel assassinated Hamas\u2019 deputy political leader, Salah Al-Arouri, in Beirut, in January that year he said<\/a> that \u201cwe cannot keep silent about a violation of this seriousness because this means that all of our people will be exposed. All of our cities, villages, and public figures will be exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n Two years on, both sides continue to justify the use of military force to defend their respective communities. But this claim does not bear scrutiny. As of June 2026, communities on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border remain highly insecure. This is despite the supposed US-brokered ceasefire between the two sides declared by Donald Trump on April 7. <\/p>\n Hezbollah\u2019s attacks on Israel have resulted in civilian and military casualties as well as severe disruption to everyday life. The situation on the Lebanese side of the border is worse. Since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war between the US and Israel on the one side, and Iran on the other, the IDF has significantly expanded its ground offensive, reportedly resulting in more than 3,000 people killed and more than 1 million displaced.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Nasrallah\u2019s replacement as Hezbollah secretary general, Naim Qassem, has continued his predecessor\u2019s aggressive line against Israel. Upon the onset of the current hostilities he pledged, on March 5, to \u201ccontinue the fight against Israel\u201d<\/a>. In addition, he has rejected the Lebanese government\u2019s order to refrain from attacks on Israel and refused to disarm. <\/p>\n In a statement on May 25 to mark Resistance and Liberation Day, the Lebanese holiday marking the anniversary of Israel\u2019s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Qassem said disarmament would destroy Lebanon\u2019s \u201cdefensive capability and the capability of the resistance and its people, as a prelude to extermination\u201d. He added: \u201cDisarmament is extermination, and this is something we cannot accept.\u201d<\/p>\n Having clearly learned a lesson from Ukraine\u2019s defence against Russia, Hezbollah has taken to using fibre-optic drones as their main weapon<\/a>. Apart from the military and civilian casualties inflicted by these attacks, they severely threaten everyday life across the north of Israel, forcing workplaces and businesses to close and disrupting schools. <\/p>\n Overwhelmed and insecure, residents in northern Israel have described themselves as becoming \u201cinvisible\u201d<\/a> in the eyes of the Israeli government. A spokesperson for Lobby 1701, a northern Israel residents\u2019 group named after UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the last Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and was supposed to ensure the demilitarisation of the region, told Israeli news outlet Ynet Global<\/a> that people in northern Israel felt abandoned by their government: \u201cWhy does no one care even a little when a drone hits a children\u2019s bus stop in Shomera, compared with if that same drone had, God forbid, hit a children\u2019s bus stop in Tel Aviv?\u201d <\/p>\n Hezbollah\u2019s pledge to \u201cdefend\u201d its communities through its military operations have clearly utterly failed and a majority of Lebanese people favour the group disarming<\/a>. One Lebanese politician from a party which opposes Hezbollah, told journalists<\/a>: \u201cI have never seen a so-called resistance movement that is supposed to liberate the country from the occupier, do everything it can to give the occupier a pretext to send even more troops and create a buffer zone. If they want to commit suicide, let them go to their master in Tehran, far from Lebanon.\u201d <\/p>\n Thus, ordinary Israelis and Lebanese remain captive to the false promises of their leaders. The continued reliance on military force has brought neither side greater security. Instead, it has deepened their vulnerability. <\/p>\nOrdinary lives under threat<\/h2>\n
Captives of conflict<\/h2>\n
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