admin Israel and Hizbollah clashed overnight despite US President Donald Trump’s announcement that both sides had agreed to halt fighting ahead of US-hosted talks between Israel and Lebanon on Tuesday.
Israel’s growing offensive in Lebanon, including heavy bombardment and its deepest ground invasion in two decades, has threatened to scupper a ceasefire in the wider Middle East war between the United States and Iran.
Hizbollah drew Lebanon into the conflict on March 2 by firing rockets at Israel in retaliation for the US-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader, and Tehran has demanded that Lebanon be included in any peace deal with Washington.
The overnight clashes came after Lebanon said Iran-backed Hizbollah had accepted a US proposal for a “mutual cessation of attacks” after Trump said he persuaded the warring sides to de-escalate.
First responders gather at the site of an Israeli strike that hit near a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on Monday. AFP
Under the arrangement, Israeli strikes on Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, would cease in exchange for Hezbollah refraining from launching attacks against Israel, according to a statement from the Lebanese embassy in Washington.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to cast doubt on any truce, and a report by US news outlet Axios on Monday said Trump called him “f**king crazy” and accused him of putting Iran peace talks at risk.
“There will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” Trump said on his Truth Social network after a “very productive” call with Netanyahu.
“Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hizbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop — That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel,” he added.
A plume of smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Tyre, southern Lebanon, on Monday. AFP
Netanyahu later said he had told Trump “that if Hizbollah does not cease attacking our towns and our citizens, Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut”.
But Trump doubled down on his ceasefire push, posting on Truth Social that “hopefully” Israel and Hizbollah would stop fighting “for ETERNITY!”
Agence France-Presse
