{"id":106,"date":"2026-05-05T08:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/?p=106"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:12:18","slug":"israel-zone-and-the-litani-river-in-lebanon-hezbollah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/?p=106","title":{"rendered":"Israel Zone and the Litani River in Lebanon (Hezbollah)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Israel Zone and the Litani River in Lebanon (Hezbollah)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern Tokyo Times<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lebanon\u2019s government and armed forces remain overshadowed by\u00a0Hezbollah \u2014 a\u00a0\u201cstate within a state\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>that prioritizes the strategic designs of\u00a0Iran\u00a0over national cohesion. As tensions remain following U.S. and\u00a0Israel\u00a0strikes on Iran, Hezbollah has once again drawn Lebanon into conflict, launching attacks on Israel in alignment with Tehran rather than the interests of Beirut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dynamic stands in stark contrast to the mass protests that swept Lebanon in recent years, when citizens across sectarian lines united against economic collapse, political paralysis, and entrenched corruption. That national cry for reform remains unanswered, suffocated by the same structures that enable Hezbollah\u2019s autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Lebanon faces renewed devastation. The\u00a0Israel Defense Forces\u00a0is striking targets from southern Lebanon to Beirut and beyond (irrespective of the ceasefire), while signaling an expanded security zone reaching the Litani River. Israeli Defense Minister\u00a0Israel Katz made the intent explicit: operations will continue with full force against Hezbollah, and displaced residents of southern Lebanon will not return until security is assured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bridges over the Litani \u2014 vital arteries allegedly used by Hezbollah \u2014 have been bombed, with further infrastructure likely to fall under Israeli control despite ongoing fragile ceasefire. The doctrine is blunt: where missiles persist, normal life cannot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s objective is clear \u2014 a buffer to shield its northern communities from Hezbollah attacks. Yet while Beirut condemns Israeli actions, the deeper crisis lies within: a state that tolerates an armed actor operating beyond its authority. Even as the government pledges to disarm Hezbollah, the group refuses to relinquish its weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a country already crippled by economic collapse and institutional decay, repeated entanglement in regional rifts between Washington, Tel Aviv, and Tehran is unsustainable. Lebanon\u2019s fragile sectarian balance demands unity and restraint \u2014 not unilateral military decisions made in service of external ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, Lebanon must belong to its people \u2014 not function as an extension of Iranian strategy. Hezbollah now faces a defining choice: integrate fully into the national framework and help rescue a collapsing state, or persist on a path that ensures perpetual instability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without such a shift, Lebanon risks deepening economic ruin, accelerating brain drain, recurring wars tied to Iran\u2019s regional agenda, and the continued erosion of sovereignty under the shadow of a \u201cstate within a state.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MODERN TOKYO TIMES \u2013 MODERN TOKYO NEWS \u2013 please check https:\/\/moderntokyonews.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please check Modern Tokyo News at https:\/\/moderntokyonews.com<\/a> for articles going back over 10 years. Sadly, Modern Tokyo Times got hacked and lost 14 years of articles\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Israel Zone and the Litani River in Lebanon (Hezbollah) Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times Lebanon\u2019s government and armed forces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,25,8,23],"tags":[167,168,165,164,166,90,38,89,87],"class_list":["post-106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-geopolitics","category-israel","category-middle-east-west-asia","category-military-news","tag-geopolitics-israel","tag-hezbollah-and-terrorism","tag-idf-and-litani-river","tag-israel-and-litani-river","tag-israel-geopolitics","tag-japan-news-agency","tag-lee-jay-walker","tag-tokyo-news-agency","tag-west-asia-geopolitics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108,"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106\/revisions\/108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moderntokyotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}