Lebanon awaits truce ideas as Israel strikes
Published: 05:11 PM,Nov 13,2024 | EDITED : 09:11 PM,Nov 13,2024
TOPSHOT - Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a house at the site of an overnight Israeli airstrike in Joun on November 13, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)
BEIRUT: Israeli air strikes pounded Beirut's southern suburbs for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, as Lebanon waited to hear Washington's latest ceasefire proposals after a US official expressed hope a truce could be reached.
More than seven weeks since Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah, its latest air strikes levelled half a dozen buildings in the Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh and killed six people in a village south of the capital.
'They used to hit Dahiyeh at night, now they are doing it in daytime. Things are intensifying day after day,' said Hassan Moussa, 40, speaking in Beirut, adding that Israeli air strikes had also widened to areas such as Aramoun, the village south of Beirut where the health ministry said six people were killed.
Israel launched a major air and ground offensive against Hezbollah in late September after nearly a year of cross-border conflict fought in parallel with the Gaza war.
White House envoy Amos Hochstein, the US official who has led several fruitless attempts to broker a ceasefire over the last year, told Axios that he thought 'there is a shot' at a truce in Lebanon soon. 'I am hopeful we can get it.'
His comments point to a last-ditch bid by the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden to secure a Lebanon ceasefire as diplomacy to end the Gaza war appears adrift, with mediator Qatar having suspended its role.
The United States and other world powers say a ceasefire in Lebanon must be based on UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended a war between the sides in 2006. The resolution demands that the areas of south Lebanon near the Israeli border be free of any weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.
Lebanon accused Israel of violating the resolution, with Israeli warplanes regularly violating its airspace.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a political ally of Hezbollah and endorsed by it to negotiate, was quoted as saying that Lebanon was awaiting concrete ceasefire proposals and had not been informed officially of any new ideas.
'What is on the table is only Resolution 1701 and its provisions, which must be implemented and adhered to by both sides, not by the Lebanese side alone,' Berri, who helped negotiate the 2006 truce, told Asharq Al Awsat newspaper.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Wednesday's Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, which residents have largely evacuated.
Hezbollah said it used drones to attack Tel Aviv's Hakirya military base for the first time. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Hezbollah's statement and no sirens were reported by the military in Tel Aviv.
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said there had been 'a certain progress' in ceasefire talks over Lebanon, though the main challenge would be enforcement.
Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,287 people in Lebanon, the majority in the last seven weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
More than seven weeks since Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah, its latest air strikes levelled half a dozen buildings in the Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh and killed six people in a village south of the capital.
'They used to hit Dahiyeh at night, now they are doing it in daytime. Things are intensifying day after day,' said Hassan Moussa, 40, speaking in Beirut, adding that Israeli air strikes had also widened to areas such as Aramoun, the village south of Beirut where the health ministry said six people were killed.
Israel launched a major air and ground offensive against Hezbollah in late September after nearly a year of cross-border conflict fought in parallel with the Gaza war.
White House envoy Amos Hochstein, the US official who has led several fruitless attempts to broker a ceasefire over the last year, told Axios that he thought 'there is a shot' at a truce in Lebanon soon. 'I am hopeful we can get it.'
His comments point to a last-ditch bid by the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden to secure a Lebanon ceasefire as diplomacy to end the Gaza war appears adrift, with mediator Qatar having suspended its role.
The United States and other world powers say a ceasefire in Lebanon must be based on UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended a war between the sides in 2006. The resolution demands that the areas of south Lebanon near the Israeli border be free of any weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.
Lebanon accused Israel of violating the resolution, with Israeli warplanes regularly violating its airspace.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a political ally of Hezbollah and endorsed by it to negotiate, was quoted as saying that Lebanon was awaiting concrete ceasefire proposals and had not been informed officially of any new ideas.
'What is on the table is only Resolution 1701 and its provisions, which must be implemented and adhered to by both sides, not by the Lebanese side alone,' Berri, who helped negotiate the 2006 truce, told Asharq Al Awsat newspaper.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in Wednesday's Israeli strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, which residents have largely evacuated.
Hezbollah said it used drones to attack Tel Aviv's Hakirya military base for the first time. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Hezbollah's statement and no sirens were reported by the military in Tel Aviv.
On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said there had been 'a certain progress' in ceasefire talks over Lebanon, though the main challenge would be enforcement.
Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,287 people in Lebanon, the majority in the last seven weeks, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.