JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday ordered attacks on the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, as the conflict with the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah continued to escalate.
“Following repeated violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon by the terrorist group Hezbollah and the attacks against our cities and citizens, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the IDF to attack terrorist targets in the Dahiyeh district in Beirut,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
Israeli troops and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire since a mid-April ceasefire, with Hezbollah resorting to the use of cheap, easy-to-assemble kamikaze drones that are hard for air defenses to thwart and that have killed several Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.
A senior Lebanese government official told the BBC that it was relying on US mediation efforts to pressure Israel to end its own violations and prevent further civilian casualties.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
According to a US official, he proposed that, as a first step, Lebanese officials should pressure Hezbollah to stop its attacks on Israel and that, in return, Israel would refrain from escalation in Beirut.
The official said this would create space for gradual de-escalation and an effective cessation of hostilities.
It came after Israeli troops occupying southern Lebanon crossed the Litani river to seize the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle that sits on top of a strategically important ridge.
Hezbollah said its fighters have targeted infrastructure belonging to the Israeli army in the northern Israeli city of Tiberias.
In a statement, the group said the missile attack came in defence of Lebanon and in response to Israel’s violation of the ceasefire.
The fighting in Lebanon has been the broadest spillover of the Iran war, displacing more than 1.2 million Lebanese through Israeli strikes and evacuation orders since March 2, when Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into Israel to back its ally Iran.
The incursion has so far killed more than 3,370 people, according to the Lebanese government. Israel says 24 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed over the same period.
Source: Saudi Gazette