BEIRUT- Whenever the US envoy Amos Hochstein leaves Beirut, Israel escalates its bombardment of Lebanon. Now the Lebanese are accustomed to this.

In his recent visit, after propagating a positive atmosphere regarding a “settlement” to the war, Hochstein claimed that Washington is putting serious pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire.

As soon as Hochstein left Beirut on Wednesday, November 20, Israel escalated attacks with intensified air raids on Beirut’s southern suburb (Hezbollah’s stronghold), and the targeting of the popular suburb of Basta.
 
On Saturday, November 23, Israel committed the Basta massacre in Beirut. It fired four bunker-busting missiles at an eight-story residential building, leveling it to the ground. The crime has led - at the time of writing - to the death of 20 people and injury of about 70 others.

Also, last July, in the context of what was called “the success of American diplomacy in preventing Israel from taking action that would lead to a comprehensive confrontation with Hezbollah,” Washington facilitated the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Sayyed Fouad Shukr.

Then in September, Washington claimed to intensify its diplomatic efforts to stop the escalation between Hezbollah and Israel. However, this lie was quickly exposed by the “Pager & Talkie-Walkie Massacre” and then the assassination of the leaders of Hezbollah’s Radwan Force and Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and the start of the ground invasion.

Although diplomatic sources confirm that “the US administration is on the verge of completing the agreement,” observers view the escalation as an Israeli response to the Lebanese comments on the US proposal, meaning that Netanyahu does not want a “ceasefire” and is following the Gaza-style negotiations in Lebanon.

The Hebrew Channel 12 quoted prominent sources as saying that the Lebanese amendments to Hochstein’s proposal were not welcomed by the Israeli side, which rejects a ceasefire and wants a 60-day truce to verify “the extent of Hezbollah and Lebanon's commitment to the terms of the American proposal.”

On the ground, the Israeli enemy is trying to score achievements in the border areas, whereby the resistance fighters are clashing with them at zero distance, killing and wounding Israeli soldiers.

Meanwhile, the enemy forces have not succeeded in tightening their control over the city of Khiyam, where the resistance fighters are targeting them with intensive missile barrages and swarms of attack drones. 

Within the framework of the Khaybar Operations, Hezbollah continues to target the occupation regime’s heart. The resistance fighters targeted the Shraga base (the Golani Brigade’s administrative headquarters) north of the occupied city of Acre. It also bombed the Mishmar al-Karmel site, south of the city of Haifa, which is 40 km from the Lebanese border.