The Lebanese Prime Minister accused Israel on Friday of refusing any ceasefire with Hezbollah, after a series of airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, the first since the start of the week on this stronghold of the Islamist movement.
The Lebanese news agency Ani reported at least 10 strikes, preceded by calls to evacuate, which caused strong explosions and released thick clouds of smoke.
These strikes reduced entire buildings to ruins, a few hours after a visit to Jerusalem by two American emissaries to try to find a solution to the war which has pitted Israel against Hezbollah, supported by Iran, since September.
“The extension, once again, of the aggression of the Israeli enemy […] and the fact that he once again targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut with destructive raids, are all indicators that confirm his refusal of all efforts made to obtain a ceasefire,” declared the first Lebanese Minister, Najib Mikati.
The Israeli army claimed to have struck Hezbollah targets in the Beirut and Nabatiyeh areas in the south.
Ancient cities “in danger”
Bombings also targeted the town of Baalbeck, in eastern Lebanon, as well as the regions of Aley, east of Beirut, and Bint Jbeil, in the south, according to Ani.
After repeated strikes on Baalbeck and Tyre, in southern Lebanon, two cities classified by Unesco on its world heritage list, a UN official said Friday she feared that the war would endanger ancient sites. of the country.
“Ancient Phoenician cities, steeped in history, are in great danger of being left in ruins,” the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, wrote on X, adding that “the cultural heritage of Lebanon must not be another victim” of the war.
Israel is continuing its offensive against Hamas, an ally of Hezbollah, in the Gaza Strip, the north and center of which were targeted by deadly strikes on Friday.
The war that has raged since October 7, 2023 in the Palestinian territory has spread to Lebanon, where Israel launched a campaign of massive airstrikes on September 23.
At least 1,829 people have been killed since that date across the country, according to an AFP count based on official data.
The World Health Organization said Friday it was “deeply concerned about the increase in attacks on health facilities” and insisted “that health care is not a target.”
American plan
Israel says it wants to neutralize Hezbollah in southern Lebanon to allow the return of 60,000 inhabitants of the north of its territory, displaced by incessant rocket fire since the start of the war in Gaza.
A few days before the presidential election in the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Thursday in Jerusalem with American envoys Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk, who then left for Washington.
According to Israeli media citing government sources, the envoys carried a plan providing for a withdrawal of Hezbollah from the border areas of southern Lebanon, as well as the withdrawal of the Israeli army from this region, control of which would return to the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers.
But Israeli officials said the soldiers, engaged in a ground offensive in southern Lebanon since September 30, would not withdraw before an agreement that would meet Israel’s security demands.
Benjamin Netanyahu assured that he “appreciated” Washington’s support, while refusing to give in to pressure from his ally.
“Terrorist armies will no longer be at our borders. Hamas will no longer control Gaza and Hezbollah will not establish itself on our northern border in positions allowing it to invade Israel, he insisted.
On Wednesday, the new leader of Hezbollah, Naïm Qassem, said he was ready for a ceasefire “under conditions”, without specifying which ones.
“The morgue is full”
In the Gaza Strip, nighttime strikes on houses left nine people dead in Jabalia, in the north, and Nusseirat, in the center of the territory, according to the Hamas health ministry.
“The morgue of Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah”, in central Gaza, “is full of bodies, mostly children and women”, after the strikes in Nousseirat, said the director of field hospitals for the ministry, Marwan al-Hams.
The army announced that it had killed “dozens of terrorists” in the Jabalia sector and central Gaza, and had targeted “more than 200 targets” of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
A leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Taher al-Nounou, reiterated on Wednesday the refusal of a “temporary truce”, after the announcement by an informed source that the mediating countries, Egypt, the United States and Qatar, were preparing to propose a truce “of less than a month” in the territory.
The WHO also announced that vaccination against polio, interrupted in the north due to bombings, would resume on Saturday.
The war in the Gaza Strip was triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or died in captivity.
Of 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the Israeli army.
The retaliatory offensive by Israel in Gaza left 43,259 dead, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health, deemed reliable by the UN.
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