And once again, it's all society's or the nation's fault. Leaders have nothing to do with it, as former Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė used to say.
“TEL AVIV -- Israeli troops stationed in Lebanon are increasingly caught between U.S. limits on Israel's military operations and domestic pressure to fight on against Iran-backed Hezbollah, leaving them in a no-man's-land that risks a resumption of the fighting that could derail a truce between Washington and Tehran.
On Tuesday, Israeli troops in south Lebanon struck twice at what they said were Hezbollah militants threatening their positions around the Ali al-Taher ridge, home to what Israel says is an extensive underground Hezbollah fortress.
An Israeli offensive to capture that ridge last week nearly threw off a planned round of talks between the U.S. and Iran to wind down their war, leading President Trump and Vice President JD Vance to rebuke Israel for what they called a heavy-handed approach in Lebanon.
Israel is under pressure from the U.S. to withdraw troops, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing to maintain a security zone inside Lebanon, said people familiar with the matter.
One proposal is for Israel to implement pilot projects where its troops pull back from limited areas in south Lebanon and are replaced by the Lebanese army, one of the people said. The U.S. endorses that approach, a senior U.S. official said.
Tehran required an end to the fighting in Lebanon as part of the preliminary peace deal signed with Trump last week, leaving the U.S. and Israel with different objectives after fighting closely together against Iran. The divide has led to tense calls between Trump and Netanyahu.
Trump wants to wind down the unpopular conflict ahead of the midterms, while Netanyahu is under pressure from allies and opponents to press on with its campaign against Hezbollah before elections this fall. One of the Israeli leader's main challengers, Naftali Bennett, said Israel was endangering its troops by sending them to fight with their hands tied.
"It's an Israeli Catch-22 that we created for ourselves," said Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli intelligence officer. "You reach a situation where you are stuck in a place where you tell yourself that you can't withdraw because it will hurt the country's security interests and its deterrence, and on the other hand, your hands are tied."
Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border after Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran. Israel responded by pouring in forces and capturing a 6-mile-wide swath it calls a security zone.
The Israeli move is core to its new defensive doctrine based on driving threats away from its border, a strategy Israel also pursued in Gaza and Syria following the Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Even as the fighting in Lebanon has become a major obstacle to pushing forward the memorandum of understanding signed between the U.S. and Iran, Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have said they won't pull back from the security zone, including areas such as the Ali al-Taher ridge near Beaufort Castle, according to a map released by the military.
"Israel has no intention of withdrawing from the Beaufort, which is an integral part of the security zone in Lebanon and essential for the protection of the villages in the Galilee and of Israeli soldiers," Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Sunday.
The security-zone strategy is encountering significant challenges in Lebanon. Chief among them: Hezbollah's increasing use of fiber-optic drones, which Israel has struggled to stop.
The occupied zone in Lebanon was designed to push the militant group's antitank missiles out of range of Israeli towns, say Israeli military officials. But explosive drones are capable of flying much farther and have emerged as a leading cause of soldiers' deaths.
At least four Israeli soldiers were killed during last week's advance on Ali al-Taher ridge. Israel responded with strikes that led Iran to delay its participation in talks slated with the U.S. in Switzerland and to announce it again closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The Israeli military characterized its attacks Tuesday as responding to immediate threats. Hezbollah called them a violation of the ceasefire. Two people were killed in the Israeli shootings, according to Lebanese health authorities.” [1]
1. World News: 'Catch-22' Tests Israel in Lebanon --- As the public wants the military to keep fighting, U.S. seeks limits on operations. Peled, Anat. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 24 June 2026: A8.
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