Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked, Monday 1is June, for the army to strike “terrorist targets” in the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to a press release, after ordering the intensification of the offensive in Lebanon the day before. He argued “Repeated violations of the ceasefire” by Hezbollah and attacks against “cities and citizens” of his country. The Israeli army also carried out strikes in the south of the country, notably in Tyre, where a strike damaged a hospital and left several injured at the end of the day.
For its part, Hezbollah claimed responsibility on Monday for a missile attack against a military objective in the region of Tiberias, in northern Israel. An assertion that the Israeli army did not immediately comment on. The Shiite movement also regularly targets Israeli positions in southern Lebanon.
Negotiations under high tension
Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday the capture in southern Lebanon of the medieval fortress of Beaufort, where the Israeli flag now flies, speaking of a “major turning point” Israeli operations. Israeli Defense Minister Katz indicated that the IDF was seeking to make the area between the border and the Litani River, about thirty kilometers further north, « a quiet zone under security control » de l’armée.
Hezbollah said in a statement on Monday that it was fighting Israeli forces around this strategic fortress, overlooking southern Lebanon and part of northern Israel, from which the troops of the Jewish state had made a base before their withdrawal in 2000.
While his country is due to hold new discussions with Israel on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun denounced a « agression féroce » from the neighboring country. However, he affirmed that negotiations between the two countries remained “the only way to end the war”.
The head of American diplomacy Marco Rubio spoke with him and Benjamin Netanyahu about these negotiations, which Hezbollah opposes. “In order to move these talks forward, the United States has proposed a clear plan: Hezbollah must end all of its attacks against Israel. In return, Israel would refrain from any escalation in Beirut.”declared an American official on Sunday evening.
“Nothing justifies” this escalation
At the request of France, the UN Security Council met urgently on Monday, with President Emmanuel Macron estimating that “Nothing justifies the major escalation underway in South Lebanon”. The European Union also called on Israel, which withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 after eighteen years of occupation, to end its “military escalation”.
Lebanese authorities announced Monday evening that Hezbollah had accepted an American proposal to “mutual cessation of attacks” with Israel, after Donald Trump affirmed that both camps had promised him appeasement in Lebanon, on the eve of Israeli-Lebanese negotiations in Washington.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claimed to have told the American president that the army would strike Beirut in the event of Hezbollah fire against Israeli targets.
Tehran reiterated on Monday that any agreement to end the war in the Middle East is conditional on a ceasefire in Lebanon, drawn into the regional conflict on March 2, and where a truce is supposed to be in force since April 17.
