Why is Israel targeting the Lebanese Armed Forces?

Israeli forces have carried out repeated attacks on Lebanese army positions and personnel in south Lebanon, raising questions at a time when international calls have intensified for Lebanon's military to be supported and strengthened

The International Conference in Support of Lebanon's People and Sovereignty held in Paris last Thursday saw $800 million in humanitarian aid pledged to Lebanon alongside an additional $200 million to assist the Lebanese security forces.

The funds were offered as donor countries called for support for Lebanon, including for its army to be able to increase troops on the southern border.

This would be necessary, they say, for UN Resolution 1701 to be implemented to maintain security and stability after a ceasefire is agreed.

Lebanese government sources however have described the pledges as "disappointing" considering the losses inflicted by Israel's ferocious assault and the needs of the Lebanese military to allow it to meet current challenges.

The sums needed vastly exceed this amount, they said, highlighting that much larger funds were provided in the past, like at the "Paris III" donor conference in 2007, when $7.6 billion was pledged.

"The West always talks about supporting the army, but this doesn't translate into action - the army is deprived of anything that would allow it to perform its role - deprived of weapons, air defence and other essentials which would enable it to confront Israel or any aggression,"  Dr. Hisham Jaber, Head of the Middle East Centre for Studies and Public Relations told The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

Israel has not only been targeting the Lebanese army but also carrying out strikes on sites belonging to UNIFIL (the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon).

These have escalated since Israel launched its all-out offensive in September. Israel has also criticised the peacekeepers, repeatedly demanding they relocate five kilometres north "to distance themselves from danger as the conflict intensifies".

However, many see this as simply another attempt to undermine UNIFIL's mission, and part of an agenda to end UNIFIL's role on the borders - a motive which could also explain the strategy behind Israel's attacks on the Lebanese military.

Attacks on Lebanese army

Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked Lebanese army positions since the "Lebanese support front" was opened by Hezbollah on 8 October 2023 in solidarity with Gaza, despite the army being uninvolved.

As of last week, these attacks had killed 13 Lebanese army personnel, three of whom were killed on Thursday on the outskirts of the village of Yater near the southern town of Bint Jbeil as they evacuated wounded people.

The dead included Major Mohammad Farhat, whose filmed confrontation with Israeli soldiers last year went viral after he stopped them installing a barbed wire fence on the Blue Line in south Lebanon.

Thursday's attack on army personnel came just hours after US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed in a phone call to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant "the need to take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the Lebanese armed forces and the UN peacekeeping forces operating in southern Lebanon."

Why is Israel targeting the Lebanese army?

Jaber said this highlighted how American advice, statements and decisions are being disregarded by Israel.

"The Lebanese army re-positioned itself more than two weeks ago due to the Israeli threats directed at it and the UNIFIL forces. Despite that, both were targeted."

Both army positions and civilians are being deliberately targeted, he said, despite Israel's claims to the contrary. Jaber said Israel's motive is "to kill and destroy, just as it does in Gaza, and [it] seeks to turn people against each other and create anger within the country toward Hezbollah."

He considered the targeting of Major Farhat a deliberate retaliatory act, noting that the Lebanese army was also among Israel's targets in the July 2006 war, despite the fact that the army had no involvement in the war.

Jaber said that none of this is surprising; rather, it falls within the two arenas of Israeli operations in Lebanon.

There are two theatres, he says, one of combat and one of killing. The theatre of combat is in the south, where Israel has failed to achieve any victory or results.

Meanwhile, the theatre of killing and destruction spans all of Lebanon, and costs Israel nothing as its uses aircraft provided by the US free of charge and has ample ammunition.

None of Israel's officers, soldiers, or aircraft are exposed to any danger - as Lebanon has no air defences.

He said that while the Lebanese army had prior orders to respond to direct attacks on its positions, "how can it respond if there is a direct airstrike on it? It has no air defence […] no anti-aircraft guns, no missiles, no defence system, and is essentially barred from receiving any of this."

He explained that even when Russia had offered military equipment as a "gift", this was refused by Lebanon. If it hadn't, Lebanon would have faced American military sanctions, he said.

He pointed out also that Hezbollah has been able to shift the theatre of combat, raising the calibre of its targets and the type of missiles it's firing, striking targets deep inside Israel and inflicting losses.

This had angered Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who in turn was retaliating with widescale destruction across Lebanon, "leaving nowhere safe".

He regretted that "many chances" for a ceasefire had been missed, even though he believed that in August Hezbollah would have accepted one in line with the implementation of Resolution 1701.

"However we lost the chance, and now Netanyahu wants 1701 Plus - and this "Plus" is extremely dangerous".

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.