English

In Lebanon, on 21 and 22 April, a specific fear was revived: that of a truce that did not collapse by an official decision, but by a series of incidents that reconstituted the logic of war. Israeli strikes in the South, Hezbollah's response to northern Israel, bombing in West Bekaa, and then Donald Trump's extension of the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan's request: the sequence reveals less than two separate crises than the same regional power ratio, which Washington tries to compartmentalize without really achieving it.

In Lebanon, on 21 and 22 April, a specific fear was revived: that of a truce that did not collapse by an official decision, but by a series of incidents that reconstituted the logic of war. Israeli strikes in the South, Hezbollah's response to northern Israel, bombing in West Bekaa, and then Donald Trump's extension of the ceasefire with Iran at Pakistan's request: the sequence reveals less than two separate crises than the same regional power ratio, which Washington tries to compartmentalize without really achieving it.

The truce shifted the Lebanese question from the military to the financing. The country has resources, loans and donors, but most of all lacks a clear chain of decision-making, cash flow and execution. The immediate reconstruction depends less on promises than on the rapid use of money that can already be mobilized.

In less than three days, the Lebanese front again gave the image of a gear. An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, presented by the IDF as an action against Hezbollah fighters, fed the Lebanese side the trial of a truce already emptied of its substance. The next day, Hezbollah claimed rocket and drone fire into northern Israel. Then, on Wednesday at dawn, a bombardment on the Beqaa confirmed that the accalmia remained precarious, incomplete and suspended from a military balance that deteriorated hour after hour.

Donald Trump finally extended the cease-fire in Iran at a time when he was still hearing, a few hours earlier, that he did not want to extend the truce. This reversal avoids an immediate resumption of the bombings, but hardly settles anything on the substance. The United States embargo on Iranian ports remains in place, the Strait of Ormuz remains under high pressure, and discussions in Islamabad continue to face the nuclear issue, sanctions and deep mistrust between Washington and Tehran. The war retreats one step, without leaving its tipping zone.

Lebanon faces a decisive choice: finally undertaking deep institutional reforms to restore its sovereignty, credibility and access to international aid, or sink into erosion. Justice, financial control, monopoly of force and political responsibility now become the conditions for any national renaissance for the country.

In Lebanon, the debate on gold reveals a deeper crisis: the state lacks revenue, but tries to tax a refuge that citizens clinged to after the bank collapse. Behind taxation is the whole question of trust, tax justice and financing of the country now.

In southern Lebanon, the ceasefire has not yet allowed a real return. Families return to their homes, control the damage, and then return to their temporary homes. Between repaired roads, reopened bridges and fear of a resumption of fighting, they now live between two lives, without being able to resettle permanently at home.

Lebanon is home to an exceptional flora, rich in plants endemic to the limestone mountains with sunny cliffs. From the Astragalus libanoticus to the Origanum libanoticum, to the rare iris and peonies, these species tell a fragile natural heritage. Climate threats and human pressure make their protection essential.

Lebanon is seeking up to $1 billion to absorb the war shock, finance the budgetary emergency and avoid a further economic fall. It is not a recovery plan, but a temporary net to hold, while the damage is estimated at several billions and the reconstruction is awaiting.

By proposing a meeting between Joseph Aoun and Benjamin Netanyahu, Samir Geagea moved the debate far beyond the ceasefire. In Lebanon today, such a summit would not only be diplomatic. It could become a powerful factor in the internal divide between state, Hezbollah, partisan camps and public opinion.

In receiving the US Ambassador and then a delegation from the Sovereignty Front, Joseph Aoun set a clear political line for the post-threat. The President wants to preserve the cease-fire, launch a Lebanese-led bilateral negotiation under the leadership of Simon Karam, and make this process the framework for ending the war, the Israeli occupation of southern areas and the continued fragility of state authority in the South.

Israel once again spreads a map in Arabic and directly threatens the people of southern Lebanon by prohibiting them from returning to dozens of villages. Under cover of security, the Israeli army draws an inner red line, transforms the truce into a zone of restraint and politically locks the local civilian return.

The ceasefire did not end the death count in Lebanon. It opened a slower and harder phase, that of the remains removed from the rubble, collapsed buildings and still difficult to access areas. In Tyre, Kfar Melki, Qadmous, Hayy al-Sellom or near the Qasmiyeh bridge, the rescue teams continue their research and reveal an incomplete human record. The health authorities recognize this themselves: the figures remain provisional until the rubble is lifted, the bodies are not extracted and DNA identifications are completed.