Lebanon attacks strain ceasefire on eve of US talks
At least four people were killed in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s state news agency reported, and Hezbollah said it launched an attack drone at Israeli forces in the south, forcing a ceasefire between the Iran-backed group and Israel.
On the eve of talks between Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut would seek an extension of the 10-day ceasefire brokered by the United States, which expires on Sunday.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel flared up again on March 2, when the Lebanese group opened fire in support of Iran.
The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separate from Washington’s efforts to resolve its dispute with Tehran; however, Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in a broader ceasefire. The United States has denied any connection between the tracks.
More than 2,400 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched the offensive in response to Hezbollah’s March 2 attack, according to Lebanese officials.
Israel seized an area on the border where its soldiers were stationed, saying it aimed to create a buffer zone to protect northern Israel against attacks by Hezbollah, which fired hundreds of rockets at Israel during the conflict.
Lebanon said an Israeli attack on the southern village of Tayri killed two people in the car and targeted rescue workers trying to lift an injured journalist from the rubble.
Israel said it did not prevent rescue teams from working and that the other attack targeted vehicles leaving a known Hezbollah military structure.
Both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement.
Aoun said that Lebanon’s ambassador to Washington, Nada Moawad, who is Beirut’s envoy at Thursday’s talks, will ask for the ceasefire to be extended and Israel’s destruction of villages in the south to stop.
A Lebanese official said Beirut wanted the extension of the ceasefire as a precondition for talks to expand beyond the embassy level to the next phase, where Lebanon would press for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel and the determination of the land border.
Saying that the ceasefire in Lebanon was the fruit of Iranian pressure, Hezbollah condemned Beirut for seeking talks with Israel; This reflects broader divisions with the government, which has been calling for the peaceful disarmament of Hezbollah for a year.
In his speech, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar stated that Israel “made a historic decision to negotiate directly with Lebanon after more than 40 years” and described Lebanon as a “failed state”.
Addressing Lebanon, Saar said, “Let’s work together against the terrorist state established by Hezbollah in your region.”
Aoun listed goals such as stopping Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and ensuring the withdrawal of Israeli troops. In his speech on Friday, he said the ceasefire should be transformed into “permanent agreements that protect the rights of our people, the unity of our territory and the sovereignty of our nation.”
