Weekly Commentary: Will Pending Israeli Elections Shield Us From Additional
Pre-Election Lebanon Pilots?

Dr. Aaron Lerner 24 September 2026

The pilot program in Lebanon has been a dismal failure.

Hezbollah remains active in the areas allocated for the first pilot program.
Lebanese forces refuse to follow through on Israeli intelligence reports -
at most coming to the entrances of Hezbollah weapons stores we have
identified but not actually searching.

The roadblock inspections have also been a farce.

Yes. Hezbollah has generously provided some weapons for photo ops.

But there is no real answer to the detailed Israeli reports.

With elections also coming up in the United States, American officials have
opted to keep their blinders on in order to maintain the illusion that the
pilot program, as is, can be extended.

Fortunately, we also have elections coming up, and Mr. Trump no doubt can
appreciate that it would be political suicide for Netanyahu to ignore
reality and advance the pilot program before the elections.

The big losers in this farce are the Lebanese.

After all, if Washington accepts those photo-op displays of Hezbollah
weapons as proof of success, it makes it just that harder to justify
actually doing the job.

One can only hope that things will improve when concerns over the midterm
elections no longer drive policy in the White House.

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