[News] Israel Prepares to Breach the Lebanon Deal to Seize the Strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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Israel
Prepares to Breach the Lebanon Deal to Seize the Strategic Ali al-Taher
Ridge
Quds News Network - August 16, 2026

[image: Israel Prepares to Breach the Lebanon Deal to Seize the Strategic
Ali al-Taher Ridge]

Israel prepares to breach the Lebanon deal to seize the strategic Ali
al-Taher ridge, besieging trapped Hezbollah fighters as its daily ceasefire
violations continue.

Israel is preparing to resume Lebanon invasion to seize the strategic Ali
al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, in what would be a further and
premeditated breach of the US-brokered ceasefire, Israeli media reported.
The high ground, which overlooks much of the south near Nabatieh, has
become the focus of a dangerous escalation, with Israeli forces besieging
the site and Israel awaiting only a green light from Washington to move on
it.

According to Israeli reporting, dozens of Hezbollah fighters are trapped
inside an underground facility on the ridge, where Israeli forces have
tightened a siege and cut the water lines to the site. Hezbollah has
attempted to break the siege and resupply the trapped men, including by
using drones to carry equipment, while Israel says it has blocked those
efforts. Israeli sources said the army is preparing for the possibility of
a wider escalation in Lebanon over the events at Ali al-Taher.
[image: file_6a8204b574ab1] The Ali al-Taher hills north of the Litani
River, between Nabatieh, Kfartebnit and Beaufort Castle

The confrontation follows an Israeli attempt to storm the ridge, which
Hezbollah moved to repel. Israel refuses to withdraw from the area under
terms that would hand it to the Lebanese army, while Hezbollah insists the
ridge cannot be surrendered without a full Israeli withdrawal. A senior
Lebanese security official said Beirut had received messages indicating
that Israel was ready to act and was awaiting an American green light, and
that Washington had told Lebanese authorities it could not fully prevent an
Israeli operation but had asked that any action be limited and surgical.
The official said bluntly that Israel needs this achievement and will not
back away from it.

The planned assault has drawn a direct warning from Iran. Lebanese official
sources said Tehran had conveyed a message that an Israeli attack on Ali
al-Taher would draw Iran into the cycle of escalation, raising the prospect
that a move on the ridge could ignite a far wider confrontation.

The push to occupy new ground comes against a backdrop in which Israel's
violations of the ceasefire have never stopped. Since the truce, Israeli
forces have continued near-daily strikes on southern Lebanon and have
systematically demolished the homes of displaced Lebanese behind the line
to which they withdrew, razing property and preventing residents from
returning. Israeli forces have also been deliberately setting fire to
Lebanese land. Lebanese firefighters say Israeli troops have intentionally
started wildfires in the south, igniting blazes on agricultural and
forested land near the border, in what amounts to a scorched-earth campaign
against the very communities barred from going home.

War Minister Israel Katz has made Israel's intent explicit. From southern
Lebanon, he declared that Israeli troops would remain in what he called
security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza for the long term, and that
Israel would under no circumstances withdraw. His remarks drew rare
criticism from Washington, with a US State Department official saying a
permanent Israeli military presence in south Lebanon was not consistent
with the framework agreement, which provides for a phased Israeli
withdrawal tied to Hezbollah's disarmament.

Lebanese officials have repeatedly condemned Israel's daily violations, its
killings, and its refusal to withdraw. The mounting pressure has also
turned inward, with Hezbollah's leader Naim Qassem warning the Lebanese
state itself over its handling of the crisis. Qassem said the hour of anger
was near and could erupt, accusing the authorities of moving to disarm the
group while Israel continued its attacks and demolitions unchecked, and
demanding the state protect its people rather than yield to Israeli and
American pressure.

Sources: Mako (Israeli Channel 12); Ynetnews; The Guardian; L'Orient Today
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