Israel–Hezbollah War 2024

The Israel–Hezbollah War of 2024 grew out of nearly a year of low-intensity exchanges that began on 8 October 2023, when Hezbollah opened a "support front" for Hamas after the 7 October attacks on Israel. For roughly eleven months, the two sides traded rockets, anti-tank fire, and airstrikes across the Blue Line, displacing tens of thousands of residents on both sides of the Lebanon–Israel border.

The conflict sharply escalated in September 2024. On 17–18 September, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members detonated across Lebanon and Syria in a covert operation widely attributed to Israel, killing dozens and wounding thousands. Israel then launched an intensive air campaign across southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahieh). On 27 September 2024, an Israeli strike on Dahieh killed Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who had led the organisation since 1992. His successor Hashem Safieddine was reportedly killed in a subsequent strike in early October.

Israel began a ground incursion into southern Lebanon on 1 October 2024, declaring limited operations against Hezbollah infrastructure near the border. The same day, Iran launched a large ballistic-missile salvo at Israel in retaliation for Nasrallah's killing and earlier strikes on its commanders. Fighting continued through October and November, with extensive destruction in border villages and significant Israeli casualties in ground combat.

A US- and France-brokered ceasefire took effect on 27 November 2024. Its terms drew on UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (2006), requiring Hezbollah forces to withdraw north of the Litani River and the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL to deploy in the south, while Israel was to withdraw within 60 days. Implementation was contested, and intermittent Israeli strikes continued into 2025. Lebanese authorities reported more than 3,000 killed and over a million displaced; Israel reported dozens of soldiers and civilians killed and around 60,000 displaced from northern communities.