Will Hezbollah really pull its forces out of Lebanon’s DMZ?

Alameen Templeton
Israel and Hezbollah are eyeing each other suspiciously Friday as the Lebanon ceasefire deal takes hold and they start preparing to withdraw their forces from the DMZ – between the Litani river and the border.
Military strategists are questioning whether Hezbollah is really going to completely give up hard-won infrastructure and assets it’s built up in the DMZ, the “DeMilitariZed Zone” (Did you find yourself saying “Dee-Emm-Zee”, instead of “Dee-Emm-Zed”? It’s like Vietnam 1970 all over again, isn’t it?)
Infrastructure of war
Hezbollah revealed on War Monitor Wednesday it had 300 carefully prepared defensive lines in the zone.
Israel doesn’t want them there because they menace Zionist farms in the north. About 100 000 settlers fled the farms under a government evacuation order last year and frustrations in Israel are growing as they watch Lebanese villagers return to their settlements in southern Lebanon while they huddle impotently in shelters in Tel Aviv.
The settlers were outraged on Wednesday as the Lebanese returned, but they remained in exile on rations. The return happened spontaneously and despite IOF orders to them to stay away.
The Times of Israel reported Wednesday the IDF warned Lebanese civilians: “For your safety and the safety of your family, you are prohibited from moving south toward the villages that the IDF has ordered to be evacuated or toward IDF forces in the area.”
The Lawnmowers have also imposed a curfew from 5pm-7am, adding “it is absolutely forbidden” to cross the Litani River in a southbound direction.
Oil on water
Besides the curfew, most of those instructions were ignored as thousands of Lebanese residents streamed back to their villages.
The Lebanese military told AFP Wednesday it had “begun reinforcing its presence in the South Litani sector and extending the state’s authority in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)”. Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah visited the DMZ on Wednesday to witness the ceasefire and was confident the peace would hold, insisting “there will be no problem”.
France24 reports he replied, when was asked if Hezbollah was really ready to withdraw north of the Litani, the process was part of “Lebanese state matters and strengthening the army presence. There is full cooperation on this issue and there will be no problem there.”
Onder draai die duiwel rond
Despite Fadlallah’s confidence there will be “no problems”, the withdrawal clearly rankled, as he insisted Israel “has not won the war”, adding: “Israel announced it wanted to destroy Hezbollah, but today Hezbollah has a strong presence in all Lebanon’s regions, particularly south of the Litani”.
Hezbollah has a strong support base in the zone’s network of villages, where much of its infrastructure including tunnels and weapons caches are built and stored. Many suspect, many hope, Hezbollah will be keeping some of that intact, despite the ceasefire.
They know Israel cannot be trusted and will tear up the ceasefire agreement and pivot to war on a tickey if it’s given chance or even a sniff of winning a small or big victory.
Zionist Alliance of Genocide
Just how determined the US is to prevent a deeper or wider war, or to simply delay one, is open only to conjecture.
It says the 2024 peace deal differs from the 2006 incarnation in that western powers will not withdraw and leave matters in the hands of UNIFIL only.
The Jerusalem Post reports, this time around, the Zionist Alliance of Genocide – America, Britain, France and Israel – are determined to enforce the deal (although the US is hasty to reassure Americans worried about “entanglement” it will have no “boots on the ground”): Washington will observe and coordinate from its Crusader-style embassy/castle in Beirut; Paris’s legionnaires will respond with the Lebanese military to complaints of violations; London’s Tommies will prevent weaponry resupplies for Hezbollah from Iran; and Israel’s Lawnmowers will kill whenever they can.
With just one of US president Genocide Joe Biden’s shaking hands on the wheel as he prepares to vacate the Oval Office superbowl and his one eye on retirement, what could go wrong as he shuffles out of the office … or into a closet?
Ray of hope?
The only chink of light disturbing the gathering gloom was a remark by Zionist offence minister Israel “Kill-’em-all” Katz in a meeting with British foreign minister David “Yessir” Lammy.
Middle East Monitor reports Friday Katz urged Lammy and London to “oppose any ceasefire proposal in Gaza that is not conditional on the release of the hostages”.
It’s typical, Israeli-Anschluss diplomacy; it’s pretending to put its foot down when it’s actually lifting it up.
Hamas has always been willing to release the hostages in return for a ceasefire. Israeli intransigence and chuckling US support are the only two factors that have stubbornly and murderously prevented peace from breaking out.
So, that might indicate Tel Aviv’s Lawnmowers may have accepted a new reality and peace may soon come to poor Gaza while the Zionists lick their wounds and plot for the future.