Military strikes resumed in Lebanon and the Negev within hours of the ceasefire announcement — raising the question of whether any ceasefire was reached at all.
BBC and Reuters reported the resumed Lebanon strikes but framed them as separate from the Iran-US ceasefire, downplaying the contradiction at the heart of the announcement.
X conflict trackers were numbering the new strikes within the hour, treating the ceasefire as a speed bump rather than a stop sign.
Wave 97 launched from Israel into Lebanon within hours of the ceasefire announcement. The number matters: it means the strikes had resumed before the diplomatic statements had finished being distributed. [1]
The IDF described the operation as the largest coordinated Lebanese action since early March. Fourteen people were killed according to Lebanese health ministry figures. The strikes targeted what Israel described as Hezbollah infrastructure in the Bekaa Valley and southern suburbs of Beirut. [2]
Iran fired rockets into the Negev after the ceasefire was declared — three children were injured near Beersheba. Whether those rockets were launched before or after the ceasefire took effect depends on which clock you use and who fired the order. No party has provided a clear answer.
The question the ceasefire's first night raised was not whether the fighting had stopped. It clearly had not, in Lebanon. The question was whether the fighting that continued fell inside or outside the agreement's scope — and whether that distinction was meaningful when the practical result was fourteen bodies in Lebanon and rockets landing near Israeli cities. [1]
Christine Guerrero, tracking Gulf security on X, noted that the UAE and Qatar had both dealt with Iranian missile and drone launches after the ceasefire went into effect. If accurate, those launches represent either a violation of the agreement or evidence that the ceasefire's geographic scope remains contested. Neither explanation is reassuring. [2]
The numbering of waves — 97, as of Tuesday night — was itself a form of editorial commentary. Each new wave of strikes gets a number. The ceasefire did not reset the count.
-- YOSEF STERN, Jerusalem