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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he wanted to intensify his offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon where he described the capture of the Beaufort Fortress as a “decisive turning point”, pushing France to request an emergency meeting of the Security Council, scheduled for Monday June 1.
The head of French diplomacy Jean-Noël Barrot requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council of which France is one of the five permanent members. According to diplomatic sources at AFP, it was set for Monday.
“The capture of Beaufort constitutes a major turning point (…) My directive is now to deepen and extend our hold on areas that were under the control of Hezbollah,” said the Israeli Prime Minister.
The capture of this citadel built by the Crusaders in the 12th century, a strategic site overlooking southern Lebanon and part of northern Israel, opened the way for the Israeli army to advance towards the Nabatiyé region. An Israeli strike carried out at dawn on Sunday on the town of Deir Zahrani, in the district of Nabatieh, in southern Lebanon, also left eight dead, including three women, and 19 injured, including five children and six women, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
“Plan clair”
At the same time, Israel ordered the population to evacuate a vast area of southern Lebanon, between its border and the Zahrani River, about forty kilometers further north.
The head of American diplomacy Marco Rubio spoke with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about ongoing negotiations, an American official said Sunday evening, affirming that it is up to Hezbollah to stop the shooting first.
“In order to move these talks forward, the United States has proposed a clear plan: Hezbollah must end all its attacks against Israel. In return, Israel would refrain from any escalation in Beirut,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Since the start of the war on March 2, more than 3,412 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than a million displaced, according to Beirut. The death toll is 25 in the ranks of the Israeli army.
Strikes carried out on Tire
The Israeli army also carried out intensive strikes on several locations in the south, including the coastal city of Tyre, where it said it was targeting “Hezbollah infrastructure”. According to the AFP correspondent, the strikes on Sunday on Tire were the most violent since the start of the war and entire buildings were destroyed.
There are only a few thousand people left in the city, many of whom are sleeping in their cars, according to him. The city’s three hospitals continue to operate, although 13 employees at one of the establishments, Hiram, were injured by a nearby strike according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
Hezbollah, for its part, claimed on Sunday to have targeted Israeli army positions in northern Israel, in Shlomi, Nahariya and in the Krayot region. According to the Israeli army, most of the projectiles “were intercepted”, others having “fallen in uninhabited areas”.
The Israeli advance comes while the United States is still in full negotiation with Iran to end the war in the Middle East, with Tehran conditioning any agreement on an end to hostilities in Lebanon. A new meeting between the two countries, which do not maintain diplomatic relations, is scheduled for June 2 and 3 in Washington. A meeting was held at the military level on Friday at the Pentagon, without Beirut being able to obtain an effective ceasefire, the one theoretically in force since April 17 not being respected.
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