The Israel-Hezbollah war of 2023-24, from the border clashes to the ceasefire

Through the first half of 2024 the fire stayed mostly along the border, with periodic strikes deeper in. In January a strike in Beirut killed Saleh Arouri, a senior Hamas leader; Hamas blamed Israel, and Nasrallah vowed a response.^[11][12] Days later Hezbollah fired more than 60 rockets at an Israeli base,^[13] and two Israeli civilians were killed when an anti-tank missile from Lebanon hit their home.^[14] In June an Israeli strike killed Hezbollah's most senior military commander since the fighting began, and the group answered with its largest barrage to date.^[15][16] Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, shuttled between Beirut and Israel to head off a wider war,^[17][18] while Israel said it could send Lebanon "back to the Stone Age."^[19]

The summer brought the turn toward war. On July 27 a rocket struck a football field in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, killing 12 young people; Israel's military said Hezbollah fired it.^[20] Days later an Israeli strike on Beirut killed Fuad Shukr, the group's top military commander.^[21][22] In late August Israel launched what it called "preemptive" strikes as Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets.^[23] On September 17, pagers carried by Hezbollah members exploded across Lebanon, and walkie-talkies blew up the next day; the two waves killed 37 people.^[3][24][25] The New York Times reported, citing officials, that Israel had hidden explosives in a shipment of pagers,^[26] and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the operation in November.^[27] Israel declared returning its displaced northern residents an official war goal.^[28]

Israel then struck at Hezbollah's leadership. A September 20 strike on Beirut's southern suburbs killed Ibrahim Aqil, commander of the elite Radwan unit, whom the US had sought over the 1983 embassy bombing.^[29][30] Days of strikes followed across Lebanon, and the US, France and other allies called for a 21-day ceasefire as the toll passed 600 in a matter of days.^[31] On September 27, Israeli strikes on the suburbs killed Nasrallah, who had led the group for nearly 30 years; a CNN analysis found that US-made 2,000-pound bombs were likely used.^[4][32] Biden called his death "a measure of justice."^[33] Israel later confirmed it had killed his presumed successor, Hashem Safieddine,^[34] and in late October Hezbollah named Naim Qassem its leader.^[35]

Israel announced ground operations in southern Lebanon on October 1, which Hezbollah at first denied had begun.^[5] That week Iran fired a retaliatory missile attack at Israel, followed in the arc on Iran and Israel's direct strikes.^[36] Israeli forces fired on the headquarters of UN peacekeepers, injuring two of them on each of two days,^[37][38] and struck bank branches tied to Hezbollah's finances,^[39] the ancient city of Tyre^[40] and a building in Hasbaya where journalists covering the war were asleep.^[41] A Hezbollah drone killed four soldiers at a base near Haifa,^[42] and another targeted Netanyahu's house.^[43] The AP reported that the destruction of border villages raised fears of a buffer zone.^[44]

After weeks of mediation by Hochstein,^[45] Israel and Lebanon accepted the US-backed deal, which took effect early on November 27.^[6] It quieted the Lebanese front while the war in Gaza went on.^[46] The ceasefire and the push to disarm Hezbollah and the renewed war of 2026 are followed in their own arcs.