After a violent bloody day, the Israeli army indicated last night that it had reached a peak in preparations for a wide escalation on the border with Lebanon. The arrival of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Beirut, as one of the highest-ranking officials to make an official visit to Lebanon during this "Era" of presidential vacuum, added more gravity to the extremely perilous situation surrounding Lebanon, considering that Italy is directly concerned with the explosive conditions in the south, where it has one of the largest military contingents participating in the "UNIFIL" force, according to "An-Nahar."
Meloni’s arrival coincided with an escalating bloody campaign of Israeli airstrikes on southern regions after bombings deep into the Bekaa Valley. This escalation reached the limits of Israel committing a new massacre in al-Habariyeh, followed by other violent aerial assaults that severely targeted paramedics and health organizations, resulting in a significant number of martyrs nearing 15, marking the highest toll in less than 24 hours since October 8. This was followed by a fierce missile retaliation from Hezbollah, further delineating boundaries marking the potential slide into wider confrontations, making it difficult to rely on any data that still excludes the possibility of a major war breaking out in Lebanon.
Diplomatic circles do not hide their growing concern regarding the situation on the Lebanon-Israel front, especially after Israel nearly dismissed the immediate ceasefire decision in Gaza made by the United Nations Security Council, coinciding with the intense escalation on the Lebanese front. According to these circles, this was not coincidental but rather intentional, aiming to expand the geography of escalation towards Lebanon as well, thus undermining hopes for a two-week truce during the remaining days of Ramadan, which could have cooled the southern front.
According to political sources, Lebanon, which was absent from the UN decision for a ceasefire, was not overlooked in the American efforts led by envoy Amos Hochstein to ensure measures accompany the ceasefire, with the aim not to reduce it to a fragile truce vulnerable to collapse within a short timeframe. In this context, the visit of the Italian Foreign Minister, who arrived in Lebanon yesterday, exceeds the goal of ensuring the unity of her country’s forces operating within the international troops in the south (UNIFIL). It aims to discuss contributing to upcoming security arrangements at the airport and the port, which had previously been suggested behind the scenes, regarding monitoring the French units along the border with Israel, while the Italian forces would ensure that no weapons enter by air or sea, according to "An-Nahar."
