Israel’s moves to secure Lebanon, Syria borders risk further destabilisation: analysts

Israel’s continued occupation of southern Lebanon and adjacent areas of Syria reflects a US-backed move to secure the Jewish-majority state’s borders, analysts say.

But by attempting to impose an “ideal solution” to the threat posed by Lebanese Hezbollah and address uncertainty arising from the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, analysts warned that Israel could destabilise the new non-hostile governments of both countries, thereby fuelling threats against itself.

Israel’s refusal to withdraw from parts of southern Lebanon on Sunday, in accordance with the terms of a ceasefire struck in November with Iranian ally Hezbollah, “presents an immediate political challenge” to the new government in Beirut, as well as to US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Houston-based Rice University’s Institute for Public Policy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the decision two days before the January 25 deadline, claiming that the agreement “has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state” by deploying troops in previously Hezbollah-dominated southern areas and ensuring the group had withdrawn its forces to the Litani River, about 30km north of the Israeli border.

Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, last week acknowledged facing challenges in persuading the Trump administration to support the decision.

  

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