Israel Strikes Ghobeiri After Ceasefire, Targets Hezbollah Radwan Commander, Lebanon Meets in Washington

After the first Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs since a cease-fire was announced on April 17, and as attacks resumed in the Strait of Hormuz, Lebanon and Israel were set for a new direct meeting in Washington next week, according to L'Orient-Le Jour.

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L'Orient-Le Jour said the strike on Ghobeiri was described as a targeted operation intended to kill one of the commanders of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit, and it added that Israel reserves the right to target any Hezbollah military leader when it has precise intelligence, regardless of any cease-fire in place.

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The BBC and other reporting framed the wider Lebanon-Israel context as a contest over the day after in southern Lebanon, with the Lebanese government led by Nawaf Salam seeking to regain the initiative.

In parallel, the Lebanese ceasefire track described by جريدة الدستور said the official Lebanese ceasefire focuses on strengthening the Lebanese Army's presence in Beirut and in the hot spots, as a message to the international community that the state is the sole reference capable of maintaining security.

جريدة الدستور described a divergence in the interpretation of a Washington-Tehran two-week ceasefire, saying Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plainly stated that Lebanon is not included in the agreement.

Voice of Beirut International, in صووت بيروت إنترناشونال, said Netanyahu’s welcome of the ceasefire agreement among Washington, Tel Aviv, and Tehran came with the statement that the agreement does not include Lebanon.

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In that same account, Voice of Beirut International argued that the war may stop in Iran but “it will continue as it did in Lebanon,” pointing to a ceasefire agreement dated November 27, 2024 with repercussions touching other countries such as Syria.

It also said Israel is determined to end Hezbollah’s threat and is prepared to make sacrifices of any kind, while adding that Israel has reached the Litani River and sees its battle as warranted and essential to its interests.

As direct peace talks between Lebanese and Israeli representatives began in Washington for the first time in decades, صحيفة الخليج set the moment against earlier milestones, including Lebanon signing an armistice agreement at Ras al-Naqoura on March 23, 1949.

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France 24 said the new talks opened a new chapter in a long history of fragile truces and frozen agreements, extending from the 1949 armistice and the May 17, 1983 agreement to the 2022 maritime boundary demarcation and the 2024 ceasefire.

France 24 also said that in December 2025 civilian Lebanese and Israeli officials, along with military personnel from both sides, participated in meetings of the ceasefire monitoring committee in southern Lebanon, led by the United States and including France and the United Nations.

Looking ahead, جريدة الدستور warned that the road to a sustainable ceasefire faces obstacles including lack of trust and Israeli attempts to control crossings on the Litani River, while stating that the coming days will be decisive in determining whether the region moves toward relative stability or toward a broader flare-up that transcends Lebanon's borders.