Hezbollah has officially rejected the ceasefire. Two days after Jerusalem and Beirut agreed to a conditional pause, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem dismissed the deal as a “surrender,” vowing to maintain fire on northern Israel as long as strikes in Lebanon continue.
This hardline stance certainly jeopardizes the “pilot zones” intended for the Lebanese Armed Forces to deploy. However, it hasn’t shifted the calculus in Tel Aviv; for the IDF’s top brass, the book on the terror organization has already largely been closed.
On the streets, it’s easy to spot the sourness and bitterness regarding the events on the northern front, from the children running to bomb shelters, to the devastating news from the drone fields across the border, all the way to slamming the brakes on an attack in Beirut.
The difficult conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t help the feeling that there is a plan, either. These feelings do not reach the upper floors of the Kirya, Israel’s Pentagon.