Loud explosions rang out and thick plumes of smoke then rose from the southern suburbs of Beirut. This area of the capital, considered the stronghold of pro-Iranian Hezbollah, was again targeted on Friday November 1 by Israeli air raids. The Lebanese National Agency (ANI) reported at least 10 strikes. They “caused massive destruction in the targeted areas and dozens of buildings were razed”reported the agency, also reporting the outbreak of fires. Follow our live stream.
Discussions on a truce framework led by the United States. American emissaries Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk are in Jerusalem to find a solution to more than a month of war between Israel and the Lebanese Islamist movement. According to Israeli media citing government sources, their plan provides for a withdrawal of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, bordering northern Israel, as well as the withdrawal of the Israeli army from this region, control of which would return to the Lebanese army. and UN peacekeepers. Lebanon would take responsibility for preventing Hezbollah from rearming and Israel would retain its right to defend itself in accordance with international law, according to this document.
Strikes Thursday in Lebanon. On Thursday, six rescue workers affiliated with Hezbollah and its ally Amal were killed in Israeli raids in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. Bombings particularly targeted the surroundings of Tyre, in the south, and Baalbeck, in the east. Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to allow the return of some 60,000 inhabitants of the north of its territory displaced by incessant rocket fire since the start of the war in Gaza. In northern Israel on Thursday, rocket fire from Lebanon left seven people dead, according to local authorities, including four foreign agricultural workers in Metoula. Thailand then reported the death of four nationals in this border town.
Antony Blinken calls for resumption of polio vaccination in Gaza. The head of American diplomacy urged Israel on Thursday to allow the resumption of the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, interrupted after intensive bombings in the north of the country. “It is urgent that this happens in the coming days, and we look to Israel to facilitate this action,” said Antony Blinken. The World Health Organization (WHO) launched a vaccination campaign in the besieged Palestinian enclave on September 1, after the first case of polio was confirmed in 25 years.
