Beirut (Lebanon) (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday his country’s forces had pushed deeper into Lebanon, even as military delegations from both countries held landmark security talks in Washington. Israel kept up its heavy bombardment of south Lebanon, with President Joseph Aoun emphasising in a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “the need to exert all efforts to reach a ceasefire.”
A truce to halt the fighting between Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah officially took effect on April 17, but has never been observed, with Iran insisting that Lebanon be included in any agreement with the United States to end the wider war that engulfed the region in February. Both Israel and Hezbollah accuse each other of violating the April ceasefire and justify their attacks by the other’s alleged breaches.
Netanyahu announced Friday that Israeli forces had advanced beyond a river that runs around 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the Lebanon-Israel frontier. “Our forces have crossed the Litani, they have moved up to the commanding terrain,” he said in a video released by his office, adding Israel was “hitting Hezbollah head on.” Israel and Lebanon began direct talks in April, with a fourth round expected next week in Washington following Friday’s meeting at the Pentagon, running parallel to efforts by the US to strike a deal with Iran to end the regional war and blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s second-in-command, called the discussions “productive” in a post on X and said the military talks would inform the State Department-led diplomatic process.
– No end to fighting –
Fighting raged despite the talks, with Israeli strikes in the southern city of Tyre killing 11 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, which called the bombardment a “flagrant violation of humanitarian law.” Hezbollah said it had launched attacks targeting soldiers, barracks, and a military camp in northern Israel on Friday, and Israel’s military in the early hours of Saturday morning confirmed it had intercepted several projectiles from Lebanon, with one hitting near the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.
Hezbollah also said its forces attacked Israeli troops trying to advance near the medieval Beaufort fortress, also known as Qalaat al-Chakif, a site Israel’s forces had used as a base during their two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon ending in 2000. US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Rubio had “commended President Aoun’s courage and vision in pursuing direct negotiations with Israel” despite Hezbollah’s opposition, adding the group was “entirely responsible for the ongoing fighting.”
Lebanon was drawn into the regional war when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in early March in retaliation for the death of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. Hezbollah strongly opposes talks with US representatives and has refused to disarm. Lebanon’s military delegation to Friday’s talks included six officers, headed by the army’s director of operations, Georges Rizkallah. On the Israeli side, Brigadier General Amichai Levin, head of the strategic division of the army’s planning directorate, visited Washington for the talks, an Israeli military spokesman said. A Lebanese military source earlier told AFP the country’s delegation would “emphasise the need for a ceasefire, and will present the army’s plan for a state weapons monopoly and the extension of state authority across the country.”
– Wave of displacement –
On Friday, the Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported Israeli airstrikes on more than 20 locations in the south, before and after its military issued evacuation warnings for eight towns, sparking a huge wave of displacement. Hundreds of people have fled to the usually touristy old city of Tyre, which has not been included in recent Israeli army evacuation orders issued for swathes of the rest of the city and surrounding areas.
This week, Israel’s military also declared all areas south of the Zahrani River — an area that includes Tyre — as “combat zones” and told residents to evacuate. With shelters full, displaced residents were sleeping in cars or tents, an AFP correspondent said. “The situation is very difficult. Tyre is a peaceful, touristic city. We never imagined going through this,” said Karam Amin, 43, whose family of seven have been sleeping in his clothing shop. “I sorted out a shower …and we put mattresses on the floor,” he said.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Friday Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,355 people since March 2 — an increase of 31 compared to Thursday when Israeli carried out the first airstrike near Beirut in weeks.
© 2024 AFP
