Israel ramps up offensive against Hezbollah in bid to gain ground in Lebanon

Despite US efforts to broker a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli forces are continuing to expand their operations against the militant group with heavy airstrikes and increasing ground incursions into Lebanese territory.

The current proposal to end the conflict is similar to the deal that ended the last Israeli-Hezbollah war in 2006. It calls for an initial 60-day truce, during which Israeli troops would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah remove its armed presence along the nation's southern border.

US envoys were in Israel to discuss the proposal last week, but its current status is now unclear in light of Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election on 5 November.

The diplomacy comes as fighting intensifies between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants. The ever-escalating conflict, now in its thirteenth month, started when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli targets in the aftermath of Hamas' 7 October 2023 attack — the massacre and mass kidnapping in southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.

One of the main hotspots in Lebanon is the southern town of Khiam, which is located 6 kilometres north of the Israeli border and carries both strategic and symbolic importance.

Hezbollah has recently reported heavy fighting with Israeli troops in and around Khiam, which represents the IDF's deepest incursion into southern Lebanon since it launched a ground operation at the end of September.

While Hezbollah is capable of damaging Israel and its forces with missiles and drone systems, military analysts say the militant group could struggle to maintain control of Khiam given its tactical significance as well as the IDF's array of high-tech weaponry.

Agnés Hélou, a