Israel's latest attack on Beirut will weaken an already tenuous ceasefire and prospects for U.S.-backed mediation, increasing the risk of a return to wider conflict, particularly if U.S.-Iran talks stall and/or Washington becomes more willing to tolerate deeper Israeli pressure on Lebanon. On May 7, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed it killed Ahmed Ghaleb Balout, the top commander of Hezbollah's elite Radwan Force, alongside several other commanders in the group, in an airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs on May 6. According to the IDF, Balout had directed numerous attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon during the latest conflict that began in early March, as well as in the weeks following the April 16 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire. The Beirut attack came days after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun rejected a proposed meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that a formal security agreement and a cessation of Israeli attacks --...
