Exchanges of raids continued yesterday in Lebanon, despite a deal announced in Washington this week, with an Israeli strike in the south of the country yesterday Saturday killing three members of the Lebanese armed forces and the Israeli army announcing two deaths in its ranks.
An Israeli airstrike targeted a military vehicle between Hardali and Nabatiya, killing “two officers” and “a soldier”, the Lebanese Armed Forces said.
President Joseph Aoun condemned the “flagrant violation of Lebanese national sovereignty and international law”, which called into question the efforts of Beirut and Washington to end the unceasing Israeli attacks which “go unpunished”.
Asked about this by the French News Agency, the Israeli army said it targeted a vehicle because it was moving “in a suspicious manner” in the direction of its own forces in an area of operations near Tabnit (south), where Hezbollah is present, and there was a risk of targeting them.
He attacked “against the terrorist organization Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese army,” he insisted in a statement, adding that the “incident” was “under investigation”.
Hezbollah, a movement affiliated with Tehran, called the attack a “heinous crime” and “a natural consequence of the authorities’ contempt for the country’s national sovereignty and the blood of its people. He also denounced anew the government’s “complete surrender” to “the demands of the enemy” in Washington.
On Wednesday, following the fourth round of US-sponsored negotiations between the Lebanese and Israeli governments in Washington, a new ceasefire agreement was announced. The one supposedly in place since 17April has never been honoured.
This agreement, which Hezbollah rejects, provides for a ceasefire, but on condition that there is a “complete” cessation of operations by the Shiite movement, and allows for the continuation at this stage of strikes and operations by the Israeli armed forces, which have advanced into southern Lebanon.
Five more villages
The Israeli army on the part of announced the deaths of two of its men, a captain and a sergeant. The first, 23, succumbed yesterday, Saturday, after being wounded in combat in southern Lebanon; the second was killed the day before yesterday, also in the south.
In addition, it said it targeted “150 Hezbollah positions” in the past 48 hours and ordered residents of five villages in southern and eastern Lebanon to evacuate their homes in haste ahead of bombardments.
A nurse was killed in a hit as she was on her way to work, the hospital she worked at, Hiram, in Tyre (south)
Another bombing killed two women and wounded 22 other people in Saxakia, in the sector where Saida is located in the south, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
Several communities in the south were bombed, according to the Lebanese national news agency ANI. For its part, Hezbollah said it targeted Israeli soldiers, also in the south.
Lebanon’s army chief, Rodolphe Haikal, travels to Pakistan, the main mediator in indirect talks aimed at ending the war that began on February 2828 with the US-Israeli attack on Iran. He is expected to meet with his counterpart Asim Mounir, according to his staff.
Iranian media reported that Tehran could end its participation because of the escalation of Israel’s attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The US wants the Lebanon issue to be separated. Iran believes Lebanon is an integral part of the negotiations.
Israeli army bombing and operations in Lebanon have claimed the lives of more than 3,560 people since the new war began on March 2d, according to the authorities’ latest tally. On the Israeli side, the official account cites 29 soldiers and one civilian contractor for the armed forces who have died in Lebanon.
