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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://qudsnen.com/post?id=68191&slug=israel-prepares-to-breach-the-lebanon-deal-to-seize-the-strategic-ali-al-taher-ridge">qudsnen.com</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel Prepares to Breach the Lebanon Deal to Seize the Strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge</h1><div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Quds News Network - August 16, 2026</div><br><div>
<img src="https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com/devlo-cms/quds/uploads/2026/08/file_6a8204f6d5b07.webp" alt="Israel Prepares to Breach the Lebanon Deal to Seize the Strategic Ali al-Taher Ridge" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="552" height="558" style="margin-right: 25px;">
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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.
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<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<img alt="file_6a8204b574ab1" src="https://fsn1.your-objectstorage.com/devlo-cms/quds/uploads/2026/08/file_6a8204b574ab1.webp" title="file_6a8204b574ab1" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="558" height="419" style="margin-right: 25px;">
The Ali al-Taher hills north of the Litani River, between Nabatieh, Kfartebnit and Beaufort Castle
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Sources: Mako (Israeli Channel 12); Ynetnews; The Guardian; L'Orient Today</p>
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