The Israeli military launched airstrikes across Lebanon on Monday, triggering explosions across the country and killing at least 12 people, as Israeli leaders appeared to move closer to a negotiated ceasefire with the militant group of Hezbollah.
Israeli strikes hit commercial and residential buildings in Beirut as well as the port city of Tyre. Military officials said they targeted areas known as Hezbollah strongholds. They issued evacuation orders for Beirut's southern suburbs and strikes landed across the city, including within meters of a Lebanese police base and the city's largest public park.
The barrage came as leaders signaled they were close to reaching an agreement on a ceasefire, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet prepared to discuss an offer on the table.
At least 12 dead
Massive explosions lit up Lebanon's skies with orange lightning, sending huge plumes of smoke into the air as Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday. The explosions damaged buildings and left shards of glass and debris strewn across nearby streets. No casualties were reported after many residents fled the targeted sites.
Some strikes hit central Beirut and Christian neighborhoods as well as other targets where Israel had issued evacuation warnings, including in Tire and Nabatieh province. Israeli airstrikes also hit the Baalbek-Hermel region in the northeast of the country without warning.
At least 12 people were killed in strikes in Tire province, adding to more than 3,700 people killed in Lebanon since Israel launched its invasion two months ago, the Lebanese Health Ministry said on Monday . Many of those killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah have been civilians. Some of the bodies found were so badly damaged that DNA testing would be needed to confirm their identities, health officials said.
Israel claimed to have killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. The war has displaced 1.2 million people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The latest round of airstrikes came weeks after Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon in early October, encountering heavy resistance in a narrow strip of land along the border.
The army had already exchanged attacks across the border with Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group that began firing rockets into Israel the day after the war in the Gaza Strip began, last year.
Lebanese politicians have denounced the ongoing airstrikes and stressed that they hamper U.S.-led ceasefire negotiations. The vice speaker of the country's parliament has accused Israel of intensifying its bombings in order to pressure Lebanon into concessions in indirect ceasefire negotiations with Hezbollah.
Elias Bou Saab, an ally of the militant group, argued Monday that pressure had increased because “we are close to the decisive hour to achieve a ceasefire.”
Hope grows for a ceasefire
Israeli officials expressed similar optimism Monday about the prospects for a ceasefire. Michael Herzog, the country's ambassador to Washington, told Israeli Army Radio earlier in the day that several items had not yet been finalized. Although any deal would require government approval, Herzog said Israel and Hezbollah were “close to an agreement.”
“This can be done in a few days,” he said.
The two sides were close to an agreement that would include the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and Hezbollah fighters from the Israeli border, Israeli officials said, but several points of friction remained.
Mr. Netanyahu's security cabinet had planned a meeting for Tuesday, two Israeli officials told The Associated Press, but it was unclear whether the cabinet would vote to approve the deal. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal deliberations.
Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations (UN), told reporters on Monday that he expected a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah to come in stages and be discussed by leaders on Monday or Tuesday. However, he warned, “this will not happen overnight.” After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials warned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted that there could be last-minute hiccups that would delay or destroy a agreement.
“Nothing is done until everything is done,” said White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Monday.
The proposal under discussion to end the fighting calls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.
The withdrawal would be accompanied by an influx of thousands of additional Lebanese army troops, who have been largely sidelined during the war, to patrol the border area with a U.N. peacekeeping force existing.
Western diplomats and Israeli officials have said Israel is demanding the right to strike in Lebanon if it believes Hezbollah is violating the terms. The Lebanese government has said such an arrangement would allow violations of the country's sovereignty.
A ceasefire could mark a step toward ending the regional war that ignited after Hamas-led militants stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and kidnapping 250 others.
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Joe Federman reported from Jerusalem and Sam Metz from Rabat, Morocco. Associated Press journalists Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Nicole Winfield in Fiuggi, Italy, and Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.
