Israel Is Likely to Continue Attacks in Lebanon, U.S. Intelligence Concludes

 

Israel Is Likely to Continue Attacks in Lebanon, U.S. Intelligence Concludes

 

The new cease-fire between the United States and Iran calls for an end to fighting in Lebanon, but U.S. intelligence officials do not expect Israel to halt its strikes on Hezbollah.

 

Julian E. Barnes

By Julian E. Barnes

Reporting from Washington

June 19, 2026

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/19/us/politics/israel-lebanon-trump-cease-fire.html

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is likely to continue military action against Hezbollah, despite the cease-fire deal between the United States and Iran that specifically calls for a halt to fighting in Lebanon, according to a recent U.S. intelligence report, American officials said.

 

Mr. Netanyahu is under intense domestic pressure to continue operations against Hezbollah’s ongoing attacks on northern Israel. Israel views Hezbollah, the potent militia and political group in Lebanon funded by Iran, as a critical threat, and officials there do not believe the attacks can go unanswered.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies believe Israel is likely to continue such operations, even if they hinder negotiations between Iran and the United States that are supposed to address elements of Iran’s nuclear program and secure a permanent peace deal, according to the officials.

 

The cease-fire deal is deeply unpopular in Israel, where commentators criticize its failure to address Iran’s missile program, its requirement that U.S. forces leave the region and, especially, its constraints on Israeli military operations in Lebanon.

 

 

Israel is not a party to the accord, which was signed this week. But the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, said on Friday that his country had committed to an immediate cease-fire and “halted all offensive operations” in Lebanon. He insisted Israeli forces would remain in southern Lebanon and said Israel would never compromise on its security.

 

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The recent intelligence assessments show the skepticism inside American spy agencies that such commitments will hold, given the security concerns.

 

Earlier on Friday, Israel had conducted airstrikes in Lebanon, after a Hezbollah drone strike killed four Israeli soldiers in an ambush in Israeli-controlled southern Lebanon. The Israeli strikes killed at least 47 people. The strikes followed other Israeli military operations against Hezbollah.

 

Those clashes led to a postponement of talks between U.S. and Iranian officials, which had been set to begin Friday in Switzerland.

 

The new intelligence assessment was reported earlier by The Washington Post.

 

Those recent intelligence reports outline what has been obvious in public: Mr. Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials are uncomfortable with the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran. At the same time, relations between President Trump and Mr. Netanyahu are strained, even if there is little indication the Israeli prime minister will give up on the relationship.

 

Officials said Mr. Netanyahu was counting on relations with Mr. Trump strengthening once more before he faces Israeli voters this fall. Mr. Netanyahu’s standing and influence with Mr. Trump has waxed and waned before, though the high stakes of the accord with Iran appears to have pushed relations to a low.

 

The most recent intelligence report was written before Vice President JD Vance strongly criticized Mr. Netanyahu on Thursday.

 

At a news conference to promote the U.S. deal with Iran, Mr. Vance lashed out at members of Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet who had criticized the United States or Mr. Trump over the cease-fire.

 

“Donald J. Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time, and he happens to be the head of state of the world’s superpower,” Mr. Vance said. “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”

 

Representatives of the Israeli Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a request for comment. But Israeli officials have said their operations in Lebanon are defensive in the face of attacks by Hezbollah.

 

Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.