Israel blows up school and tunnels in southern Lebanon despite framework agreement

Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon continued with intense demolitions and airstrikes, despite a previously mediated framework agreement intended to secure a gradual withdrawal and deployment of domestic forces. Field reports documented explosive charges leveled against infrastructure across the Nabatieh and Tyre regions, leaving communities grappling with heavy damage alongside ongoing diplomatic efforts in Europe.

According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, Israeli forces targeted the town of Mansouri within the Tyre district, blowing up most of the public school and leaving only a small portion standing while warplanes struck the area simultaneously. Further inland, detonations rocked the hill of Baraachit in the Bint Jbeil district, accompanied by artillery fire directed at Wadi al-Hujair. Low-altitude drone flights over Beirut and its southern suburbs heightened security tensions, while machine-gun fire and artillery shelled the Kafrtibnit and Qabrikha areas.

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These actions followed a powerful blast on the Ali al-Taher heights that shook the ground with tremors. The Israeli military claimed the target was a tunnel network and infrastructure. Israeli Army Radio military correspondent Doron Kadosh reported that troops utilized 1,100 tons of explosives to collapse the subterranean infrastructure, describing it as one of the army's most complex recent operations. Kadosh further claimed that nearly 50 fighters were killed after refusing an offer to surrender, and that supply shipments sent via drones were intercepted before forces withdrew to the Beaufort Castle area. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the targeted site was the largest Iranian installation outside Iran. The strategic hilltop rises around 1,970 feet above sea level, overlooking wide areas of southern Lebanon north of the Litani River.

Military analysts linked the sustained frontier tempo to domestic electoral pressures. According to Haaretz military analyst Amos Harel, Netanyahu has maintained a constant state of emergency across multiple active fronts to keep the country on high alert ahead of upcoming October elections. Meanwhile, Israeli Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir met with United States officials, where discussions raised the prospect that a resumption of large-scale regional conflict could prompt a postponement of the vote due to anticipated missile responses from Iran.

Amidst the ongoing violence, diplomatic efforts shifted to the French capital, where high-level meetings took place to discuss support for the Lebanese military. French President Emmanuel Macron received Lebanese Army Commander General Joseph Aoun at the Élysée Palace, followed by consultations with Jordanian monarch King Abdullah II. These discussions formed part of the Aqaba process framework, focusing on logistical and technical provisions to enable the Lebanese military to assert full control over the south as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon faces an approaching mandate expiration. Paris is leading consultations with European partners, including Italy, to establish an alternative international mission centred on training and equipping domestic forces without superseding Lebanese sovereignty.

Concurrently, the Lebanese Army Command reported internal security operations, including a firefight in the mountainous and arid areas of Arsal that resulted in an arrest and narcotics seizure, alongside a foiled attempt to smuggle rocket-propelled grenades and high explosives across the Syrian border in the Al-Qasr–Hermel area.

As diplomatic talks in Paris prepare the groundwork for an expanded international donor conference, the future of the region remains tied to the Lebanese Army's capacity to exercise sovereign authority. Observers and international partners will monitor upcoming electoral decisions and the evolution of international support frameworks as the expiration of the UNIFIL mandate approaches.