Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) – Israel vowed to continue its campaign against Hezbollah on Thursday, dismissing mounting international concern that its strikes on Lebanon threaten a fragile US-Iran truce that could lead to peace negotiations. At least 203 people were killed and 1,000 wounded in airstrikes on Wednesday, the Lebanese health ministry said, while Hezbollah reported engaging in close-quarters combat against Israeli forces on the ground on Thursday in the southern Lebanon town of Bint Jbeil.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that Tehran sees Lebanon as an “inseparable part of the ceasefire,” and President Masoud Pezeshkian declared that Israel’s strikes rendered “meaningless” talks with US envoys planned for the end of the week in Pakistan. President Donald Trump claimed victory in the Middle East war after agreeing to a two-week truce to facilitate discussions between US and Iranian negotiators aimed at ending a conflict that has already killed thousands and plunged the global economy into turmoil. However, both Israel and the US insist that the fighting in Lebanon is not covered by the ceasefire.
“We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with force, precision, and determination,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a social media post. “Our message is clear: anyone who acts against Israeli civilians, we will strike them. We will continue to hit Hezbollah wherever necessary.” Tehran’s ambassador to Pakistan, meanwhile, deleted a social media post stating that an Iranian delegation would arrive in Pakistan on Thursday. An official at the Iranian embassy in Islamabad informed AFP that the post was removed “because of some issues” and declined to specify whether the delegation was still expected.
Amid fears that the fragile truce could break down in the Gulf, there were international calls for the ceasefire to encompass Lebanon. “Israeli actions are putting the US-Iran ceasefire under severe strain. The Iran truce should extend to Lebanon,” the European Union’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas emphasized. France’s foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot condemned the strikes as “unacceptable,” while his British counterpart Yvette Cooper urged that the ceasefire include Lebanon. The Lebanese prime minister’s office declared Thursday to be “a national day of mourning for the martyrs and wounded of the Israeli attacks that targeted hundreds of innocent, defenseless civilians.”
UN rights chief Volker Turk labeled the scale of killing in Lebanon as “horrific,” following strikes across Beirut that arrived without warning, triggering horror and panic. “People started running left and right, and smoke was billowing,” recounted Ali Younes, who was waiting for his wife near Corniche Al-Mazraa, one of the targeted areas. Hezbollah claimed to have fired rockets toward Israel in retaliation for what it termed a violation of the truce. US Vice President JD Vance expressed support for Israel, stating that Lebanon was excluded from the truce, just days before he was set to lead talks with Tehran in Pakistan. “If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart… over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them, and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he stated.
Separately, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy agency, Mohammad Eslami, dismissed Washington’s assertions that the truce deal would halt Tehran’s nuclear program. “The claims and demands of our enemies to restrict Iran’s enrichment programme are merely wishes that will be buried,” he remarked. The bellicose rhetoric emerged ahead of high-stakes talks in Pakistan, anticipated on Friday or Saturday. A key point of contention remains the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil, as well as vast quantities of natural gas and fertilizers, pass in peacetime. Iran announced alternative routes on Thursday for ships traversing the strait, citing the risk of sea mines. However, it remained unclear if Tehran was practically allowing vessels to pass through the strait, following reports on Wednesday suggesting it was shut—something the White House termed “completely unacceptable.”
© 2024 AFP
