Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs as the conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah escalates.
Netanyahu stated that “terrorist targets” in the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahieh would be struck in response to attacks on Israeli civilians and other violations of a US-brokered ceasefire announced in April that has yet to end the fighting.
A senior Lebanese government official told the BBC that the country was relying on US mediation efforts to pressure Israel to stop its own violations and prevent further civilian casualties.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spoke with Netanyahu and Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun.
According to a US official, he proposed that, as a first step, Lebanese officials pressure Hezbollah to stop attacking Israel, in exchange for Israel refraining from escalating the situation in Beirut.
The official stated that this would allow for gradual de-escalation and an effective cessation of hostilities.
According to the BBC, it came after Israeli troops in southern Lebanon crossed the Litani River to seize the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle, which sits atop a strategically important ridge.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz stated that the campaign was not over and that they were “determined to crush Hezbollah’s power.”
Also Read: US strikes Iranian military sites as Tehran targets American base
Lebanese Prime Minister, Nawaf Salam, further accused Israel on Saturday of pursuing a “scorched-earth policy and collective punishment”.
The report, however, states that Lebanon was drawn into the war between the US, Israel and Iran on 2 March, when Hezbollah launched rockets into Israel in retaliation for an Israeli strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader.
Israel responded with an air campaign across Lebanon and a ground invasion.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 3,371 people have been killed since the war began. Its figures make no distinction between combatants and civilians.
Israel further claims that 24 of its soldiers and four Israeli civilians were killed on both sides of the border during the same time period.
(BBC News)
The Iseyin Local Government Council has sponsored 18 students from the community on scholarship to…
The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Durosinmi Meseko, has…
The Directorate of Christian Religious Affairs of the City Boy Movement has intensified efforts to…
The vice presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has…
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser Hajj (Umrah),…
All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed claims that ministers in President Bola Tinubu’s administration paid…
This website uses cookies.