The Israeli military has begun a wave of strikes across Lebanon, because apparently the previous wave just wasn't hitting the right notes. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel will intensify its attacks on Hezbollah, promising to 'deal them a crushing blow' - presumably harder than the last crushing blow, which was also supposed to be crushing.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it launched strikes against Hezbollah sites in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and additional areas across the country. This follows Netanyahu's Monday evening video statement declaring Israel is 'at war with Hezbollah' and that he gave the military instructions to ramp things up.
This escalation comes despite Lebanon and Israel agreeing earlier this month to extend a 45-day ceasefire, though 'ceasefire' appears to be used loosely here - like 'diet' when you're still eating cake. Some fighting has continued, and now there are fears in Beirut that these latest attacks will widen to include Lebanon's capital city.
Netanyahu claimed Israel's military offensive had 'eliminated… over 600 terrorists.' He added, 'But what this requires of us now is to increase the strikes, to increase the intensity.' Because 600 wasn't enough, apparently.
Since the ceasefire agreement was signed on 16 April, Israeli attacks have been largely confined to the south of the country, where Israeli troops remain and from where Israel says drones and rockets have been launched. The Bekaa Valley, struck on Monday evening, lies in eastern Lebanon near the Syrian border - a bit of a detour from the usual southern focus.
The expansion came as the Iranian government insisted that an emerging peace deal with the US should include a complete ceasefire on all fronts in the regional war. Israel's government, predictably, has been opposed to ending the fighting against Hezbollah.
Ten Israeli soldiers have been killed since the initial ceasefire with Lebanon was agreed. More than 400 people in Lebanon have been killed by heavy Israeli bombardment in the same period, including many paramedics and emergency service workers. Israel has issued near-daily orders for Lebanese citizens to leave their homes in new areas in the south, adding to the more than one million people already displaced.
Lebanon was drawn into the current round of fighting after the US and Israel launched a war against Iran on 28 February. Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, fired rockets into Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel responded with an air campaign across Lebanon and a ground invasion, with more than 3,000 people killed in Israeli attacks, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Lebanon's government has been pursuing attempts to disarm Hezbollah but maintains a ceasefire is necessary to complete what it describes as a 'complex task.' Because disarming an armed group while being bombed is, as you might imagine, tricky.