Italian peacekeepers in Lebanon not pleased with Israeli actions, it appears, nor is the Italian government. Military context: there are about 7,500 personnel supporting UNIFIL in Lebanon, with Italy contributing roughly 750.

Despite their efforts, the conflict continues.

Some other context in the spoiler: armaments and mutual defense agreements.

Israel continues to flatten residential areas of Lebanon. An open war crime.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxkk1vnp57o

But we still mustn’t criticise them.

BV

There are currently talks on going between Israel's government and Lebanon's government, but as one peels back the layers of the onion Hezbollah isn't a party to the talks.
So I doubt those talks will amount to much, in terms of stopping the conflict.

I just saw an interview on NBC with an IDF member who claimed that every residence in the attacked area of Lebanon which IDF soldiers had entered had a rocket launcher. Every one.

I wonder what those rocket launchers look like.

Video​​​​​​​https://t.me/yigal_levin/95587

Translation:

"The Israeli Ministry of Defense has requested proposals from the defense industry for a system capable of intercepting fiber-optic drones.

According to the specifications published by the Armament and Technology Development Authority (MAFAT), the system must be able to intercept fiber-optic drones flying at speeds of up to 70 km/h and at altitudes of up to 100 meters.

The systems are needed for both mobile and maneuverable units, primarily tank divisions, and for protecting troop concentration areas or stationary infrastructure."

But how many residences have they actually entered? Most of them have already been flattened by bombs and shells - job done. .

Well Bob, you make a good go at that. The Israelies are their own worst enemies. I try to see both sides but the question "what did Hamas expect after the atrocities" wears very thin now. My mother would have said " six of one and half a dozen of the other".

LB, "a pox on both of their houses" takes care of that as well.

In the news today:
No idea of the time horizon involved: days, weeks, or the usual "you didn't meet our preconditions" crap that Hezbollah and the Israelis like to pull.

Video

ORAC, this thread seems devoted to fierce criticism of Israel, with much qualitative comment and bias from folk like Bob Viking, Sallyann1234, artee, Lonewolf50, and dead-pan to name a few. Your thread either needs moderating or terminating, as so many of the comments belong in Jet Blast. We all understand that many people do not like Israel and its retaliatory actions. But it is so tedious to keep reading their little snipes. They bring nothing to any informed debate.

Objection overruled.

Look at the drone video posted just above by ORAC.
Do you want us to believe that all those buildings contained terrorists?

How much of the "destruction" was caused by secondary explosions of stored weapons?

Same question as mine. If the widespread area shown in the video housed so many terrorists and their weapons, it must have contained a sizeable army. Strange they didn't come out fighting.
​​​​​​

They did, it was street to street fighting. Hence the level of destruction.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20...y-test-ground/

​​​​​​​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle...nt_Jbeil_(2026)

Most of the destruction coming from

Baby steps for a longer cease fire? But will Lebanese troops fire at Hezbollah formations who (it can be predicted) will violate the cease fire - as they have done every time there has been one for years. That's the big unanswered question, however this is a nice step forward to the current round of fighting to stop for much longer.

Since Lebanon does not have an air force worthy of the name, who will provide aerial surveillance for cease fire adherence, zone security?
IAF, probably.
(Not sure how UNIFIL fits into this, nor what air assets they have, but I think that most "observer" missions can be handled by UAVs and Drones).

How about normalization of relations?

Sometimes, what it looks like is what it is; who knew.

Israel has had numerous opportunities to work towards something resembling a peaceful resolution to their intractable differences of 2 different groups occupying the same bit of turf, and when there is a glimmer of hope, there is action taken to cancel that avenue. Accommodation or annihilation are the ends of the spectrum, and the latter looks pretty bad on a resumé. Hamas has not made it any easier, but empowering the support of Hamas through the inequities of the settlement plans that Benny brought to the bank in bulk is a self fulfilling act of stupidity. Looks good at the poll booth though.

Lebanon is unfortunate in its choice of geography, they would do better with some continental drift to be apart from their neighbours while they sort out their issues. Hezbollah still has more military capability in Lebanon than the Lebanese government, makes for a few problems with what passes for state policy. Shame, once it was a nice place, but then, once Jews and Arabs lived in some harmony until acted upon by great powers from without.