After the barbaric 28 February assassination of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and widescale imperialist-Zionist war on Iran, the simmering conflict in southern Lebanon exploded. After months of Israeli ceasefire violations, Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah hit back on 2 March, firing rockets at a military site south of Haifa. This response came in the context of mounting Zionist war crimes and a US-led drive to disarm Hezbollah, which has exacerbated Lebanon’s political crisis.
Hezbollah and its Lebanese and Palestinian allies in Lebanon maintained their side of a November 2024 ceasefire deal with the Zionist state, withdrawing to agreed areas and firing no rockets, despite constant Zionist provocation. In November 2025, UN Special Rapporteur Morris Tidball-Binz condemned ‘a disturbing pattern of lethal strikes in populated areas by Israel,’ with ‘total disregard for the ceasefire and for Lebanese peace efforts.’ 330 people had been killed by Zionist drones and bombs in this period of the ceasefire, with 945 wounded, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Over 15,000 Israeli ceasefire violations had been recorded by March 2026.
Zionist terror against Lebanon killed at least 912 people in the 16 days to 18 March, including 111 children, and wounded more than 2,200. Thousands of ground troops have invaded southern Lebanon since 18 March. Over a million people have been displaced by the offensive, many of them from southern villages and cities. Following the same genocidal collective punishment tactics seen in Gaza, Israeli military bombs indiscriminately, expelling inhabitants of vast areas, and destroying bridges over the Litani river. On 24 March, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the annexation of southern Lebanon to the Zionist state.
In Beirut, whole residential streets have been flattened. Pro-imperialist media parroted Zionist narratives that these actions were ‘targeting fighters and infrastructure’ (RFI) and ‘Hezbollah strongholds’ (Al Jazeera) such as the suburb of Dahiyyeh. The aim is to destroy popular support for resistance.
Disarmament and political paralysis
The war on Lebanon relates directly to the designs of US imperialism. Trump repeatedly demanded Hezbollah disarm by the end of 2025, while US officials salivated over potentially ‘attractive investment opportunities’ presented by pacification of the resistance. This politicking seeks to bolster the pro-imperialist section of the Lebanese ruling class, whose ties to Gulf, and particularly Saudi, capitalism, are seen as a counterweight to Hezbollah, labelled a ‘proxy’ of Iran by the imperialists.
Lebanese president Joseph Aoun has represented the deepening ties of the ruling class with US imperialism. In August 2025, Aoun approved the US plan to disarm Hezbollah and on 2 March 2026 his government took the unprecedented move of banning the organisation’s military activities – precisely as Zionist planes began their intensive bombing of the country. Speaking to European politicians on 9 March, Aoun claimed that Hezbollah had ‘no regard for the interests of Lebanon and the lives of its people’. Scapegoating Iran, Aoun’s government demanded the exit of the Iranian ambassador on 24 March. Internally, a swarm of right-wing, pro-Saudi and Phalangist trends are attempting to isolate those fighting the invasion, with a range of pro-resistance and progressive forces under attack.
Resistance continues
Hezbollah’s response has been constant, launching an average of 47 military operations daily as of 24 March. Though Netanyahu was given Trump’s approval to launch the attacks, the creation of chaos through death and displacement does not achieve their war aims. On 7 March, 41 people were massacred by Zionist forces during an operation to extract a long-held Israeli prisoner of war in Nabi Chit. Meeting fierce Hezbollah resistance, Netanyahu was forced to admit failure.
A collection of Lebanese social movements, the Popular Resistance and Community Action Groups called for a unified campaign against imperialist and Zionist intervention:
‘This can be achieved by organising demonstrations and sit-ins in front of the embassies of the occupying power and complicit states to amplify the voice of popular resistance, launching widespread petition campaigns to affirm popular support for the right to defend the land, standing in solidarity with our displaced people, and confronting the imperialist onslaught by any means necessary.’
