There is a narrative that Hizbullah has fallen into an Israeli trap. The November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, under which the Beirut government committed to disarming Hizbullah, was considered a substantial achievement for Israel. It followed Israel’s killing or maiming of many senior Hizbullah commanders in a high-profile operation that caused their pagers to explode, and the assassination of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Meanwhile the Israeli air force continued to hit Hizbullah, despite the ceasefire. Hizbullah, according to the official narrative, was only a shadow of the organisation that once possessed 120,000 projectiles pointing at Israel.

Source: The Irish Times March 16, 2026 09:03 UTC