Israel kills eight in strike on Lebanon; US rescues helicopter crew from Hormuz
By Phil Stewart, Maya Gebeily and Tala Ramadan
WASHINGTON/BEIRUT/DUBAI, June 9 (Reuters) – Israel struck the historic port city of Tire in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing at least eight people.
On Monday, Israel and Iran halted direct attacks on each other at the urging of US President Donald Trump, but Tehran warned that hostilities would resume if Israel continued to attack its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The raids were the deadliest in Tire since conflict broke out in Lebanon in early March, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in support of Tehran after Israel and the United States began a war against Iran.
Israel had issued an evacuation order for the city early Tuesday. Residents fled and civil defense teams moved elderly residents to temporary shelters, state media reported. Lebanon’s health ministry said eight victims were killed in a single attack in the eastern end of the city.
A video verified by Reuters showed debris strewn on the road at the scene of the attack.
ISRAEL’S LEBANON CAMPAIGN MAKES TRUMP’S SEEK FOR PEACE DIFFICULT
Israel’s refusal to end its campaign in Lebanon, as Iran has demanded, has thwarted Trump’s efforts to extend the tenuous ceasefire in the broader US-Israeli war with Iran into a permanent solution.
As the ceasefire announced on April 8 largely applies to the war in the Gulf, Trump said two US helicopter crews were “fine” after they were rescued by a US Navy drone after their Apache warship crashed near the Iranian-controlled Strait of Hormuz.
It was unclear whether the Apache was hit by Iranian fire, suffered mechanical failure, or had some other problem. Asked if he knew what went down in Oman, Trump said a report would be released later Tuesday.
A US Navy surface drone found and rescued the two crew members, the US military told Reuters. US Central Command said the AH-64 Apache crashed around 3 a.m. on Tuesday (23:00 GMT on Monday).
Speaking on the runway at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport before returning to Washington DC, Trump said, “The pilots are in good condition.” “No one was injured.”
Centcom was more cautious, saying the couple was picked up in about two hours and their condition was stable.
IRAN AIR DEFENSE PERSONNEL WILL BE BURIED
Two Iranian air defense personnel killed in Israeli strikes the previous day in Tehran will be buried on Tuesday afternoon, the Iranian military said. No deaths were reported in Israel after Iran’s attacks.
Oil prices, which rose as a result of the mutual fire between Israel and Iran, fell on Tuesday after the attacks were suspended. [O/R]
Trump told reporters he might have an “idea” on the Iran deal in a few days, without elaborating. The Republican president, grappling with record-low approval ratings as November’s midterm elections approach, has hinted at an imminent deal with Tehran, but none has yet materialized.
US and Israeli officials said Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Monday.
In an interview with Axios, Trump said he warned the Israeli leader against returning to war with Iran: “I said, ‘Bibi, you better be careful or you’re going to be on your own very soon.'”
Tehran has long said any peace deal with the United States would depend in part on an end to hostilities in Lebanon, which Israel occupied in pursuit of Hezbollah fighters who crossed the border and opened fire in March.
The army said that Israeli troops operating in the Ramim Ridge area in northern Israel, close to the Lebanese border, killed one person in an incident in which they returned fire on Tuesday.
Israel never stopped its Lebanon operation, which killed thousands of people, saying the conflict should be handled separately from the US-Iran ceasefire. Hezbollah also continued its attacks.
At the same time, Tehran continued to block most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war carried one-fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Washington imposed its own blockade of Iranian ports.
Trump said any peace deal must ensure Iran does not develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s demands include the lifting of international sanctions, the release of billions of dollars of frozen assets and recognition of control of the strait.
(Reporting from Reuters bureaus; Writing by Lincoln Feast, Ros Russell and Kevin Liffey)
