Israel crosses Litani, troops reach Nabatieh
Israeli forces crossed the Litani river for the first time since 2006 and reached the outskirts of Nabatieh, one of southern Lebanon's largest cities, as PM Salam warns of unprecedented escalation.
- Israeli forces crossed the Litani river for the first time since 2006 and reached the outskirts of Nabatieh.
- At least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Friday, and a paramedic died in a drone attack near the village of Jebchit.
- Hezbollah retaliated with rockets on Kiryat Shmona and drone attacks.
- Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called the escalation dangerous and unprecedented.
Israeli troops crossed the Litani river for the first time since 2006 on Friday and pushed to the outskirts of Nabatieh, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon, taking the offensive on the Lebanese south into a new and far more dangerous phase. For decades the Litani served as the informal line at which most earlier ground incursions stopped, so its crossing redraws the geography of a conflict that has been building along the Israeli-Lebanese border for weeks and whose consequences for the stability of the wider region are watched closely from Belgrade, which maintains a diplomatic presence in Lebanon and long-standing ties across the Middle East.
At least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes during Friday. A paramedic died in a drone attack on the village of Jebchit, while two Lebanese soldiers were seriously wounded when an Israeli drone hit the vehicle they were travelling in near Nabatieh. Hezbollah responded by firing rockets at the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona and launching drone attacks, turning what had been a series of local incidents into a broad front running the length of the frontier.
What is known about the escalation
Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, described the situation as a dangerous and unprecedented escalation, language that Lebanese officials rarely use even for earlier rounds of violence with their southern neighbour. Salam’s assessment shows that Beirut sees the crossing of the Litani and the advance towards Nabatieh not as another in a sequence of border clashes, but as a qualitatively new threat to the country’s territorial integrity.
The entry of Israeli units across the river affects a densely populated area where, alongside Hezbollah, the Lebanese army holds its own positions. The wounding of two Lebanese soldiers near Nabatieh underlines how risky it is to have the regular Lebanese army and Israeli columns operating on the same ground, because any incident involving Lebanon’s official armed forces raises the prospect of a direct confrontation between two states, not merely between Israel and Hezbollah.
What comes next for the region
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun spoke with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a sign that Beirut is seeking a way out primarily through diplomatic channels and Washington’s leverage over Israel. American mediation was decisive in earlier phases of the conflict in securing fragile truces, so the outcome of Aoun’s call with Rubio will be one of the first indications of whether there is room to halt the advance before the fighting reaches Nabatieh itself.
For European chancelleries and for south-eastern Europe, including Serbia, every new phase of the war in southern Lebanon carries the risk of a fresh wave of displacement and pressure on an already fragile balance in the eastern Mediterranean. The crossing of the Litani for the first time in nearly two decades sets a new line that international mediators will now have to try to push back.
Will the diplomatic channel between Beirut and Washington manage to halt the Israeli advance before the fighting reaches Nabatieh itself?
