Lebanon’s president visits south after Israel blows up strategic Hezbollah site

Lebanon's president, Joseph Aoun, made an unexpected visit to the southern city of Nabatieh on Saturday, following a recent Israeli strike on a strategic Hezbollah site. The president arrived unannounced, accompanied by security officials. His visit came one day after a senior US diplomat announced that talks between Israel and Lebanon, originally scheduled for the following week, had been postponed to October.

Upon his arrival, Aoun expressed solidarity with the local population of Nabatieh, a city near the recently captured and destroyed Hezbollah position. He praised the staff at Nabatieh Governmental Hospital, commending their bravery in providing medical services to the area, which most residents had fled.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had subsided between late June and early July, thanks to a US-brokered framework agreement and a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran in the broader Middle East conflict. However, Israeli forces have recently intensified their attacks, particularly in the Nabatieh region.

On Thursday, Israel destroyed underground fortifications on the strategic Ali al-Taher ridge after capturing the site, located a few kilometers from Nabatieh city. The explosion was powerful enough to trigger a seismic tremor detected by monitoring agencies. Israeli strikes in the area have resulted in at least 29 fatalities in recent days, including 12 members of one family.

The Lebanese army, which has deployed forces in Nabatieh city, warned on Wednesday that Israel's actions threatened the implementation of the framework agreement. This agreement, which aims to disarm Hezbollah, facilitate the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon's southern territories, and deploy the Lebanese army to the region in designated test areas, known as pilot zones.