A new escalation between Israel and Hezbollah casts a shadow over the already difficult negotiations initiated by the American special envoy, Amos Hochstein, to achieve a ceasefire in Lebanon. A swarm of rockets and drones fell on Israel on Sunday, November 24, in one of Hezbollah’s most violent barrages in months. More than 250 projectiles were fired from Lebanon, the Israeli army said, wounding seven and causing damage as far away as the Tel Aviv region, in central Israel.
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Posting a photo of a strike near Petah Tikva, a town east of Tel Aviv, with the headline “Beirut equals Tel Aviv”, the Lebanese Shiite group presented the barrage as a response to a day particularly deadly in Lebanon on Saturday, with 84 deaths recorded by the Ministry of Health, including at least 29 in an Israeli strike in central Beirut. During the night from Sunday to Monday, the Israeli army continued its bombings, targeting in particular twelve buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which it presented as “Hezbollah command centers”.
Israel’s “determination”
The leader of Hezbollah, Naïm Qassem, promised on Wednesday to apply the principle of reciprocity in the choice of targets in his fights with the Jewish state. Speaking after talks led in Beirut by Mr. Hochstein, who had deemed a solution “within reach”the leader of the Shiite movement had vowed to continue the fighting until the permanent cessation of hostilities and to aim ” the center of Tel Aviv », in response to Israeli strikes on Beirut. He was responding to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared Monday before the Knesset that Israel would continue ” has carry out operations against Hezbollah, even after signing an agreement with Lebanon.”
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On Saturday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated that Israel would continue to act “with determination” against Hezbollah. At dawn, Israeli missiles fell, without warning, on a residential building in the densely populated Basta district, in the heart of the Lebanese capital. As of Monday morning, the official toll of 29 dead and 67 injured was still provisional, while rescuers continued their search. Israeli officials told media, on condition of anonymity, that the target was Mohammad Haydar, Hezbollah’s chief of operations, without confirming his death. Hezbollah MP Amine Cherri denied that a leader of his movement had been targeted.
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