The Israeli army carried out a series of attacks on the targets of the Hezbollah militant movement in Lebanon on Thursday evening. According to the Israeli armed forces, the target was mainly equipment used for launching rockets. At the same time, Hezbollah rejected direct negotiations between Israel and the Lebanese government without concluding a ceasefire. TASR writes about it according to the AFP agency and the Times of Israel portal.
- The Israeli army hit several Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon.
- Hezbollah rejects direct negotiations with Israel without a ceasefire between the parties.
- Rockets fired by Hezbollah set off sirens in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Ashdod.
- According to Israel and Washington, the two-week ceasefire with Iran does not apply to Lebanon.
- According to reports, Israeli attacks in Lebanon claimed more than three hundred victims.
The Lebanese agency NNA reported about several Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon. The city of Bint Jubail, where Hezbollah previously reported fighting with Israeli forces, was also a target. The Shiite movement responded by firing rockets at Israel. Sirens sounded in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Ashdod, but no injuries were reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday that Israel will begin direct peace talks with Lebanon “as soon as possible”. However, the government in Beirut first demands a cease-fire, which Israel refuses. “It is necessary to observe national principles, among which the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the cessation of fighting and the return of residents to their villages and towns are the first priority,” said Hizballah MP Ali Fajjad, according to whom the government must insist on its position that a ceasefire is a precondition for possible negotiations.
Israel has been waging war against pro-Iranian Hezbollah since early March, when the militant movement fired rockets at Israel in retaliation for an attack on Iran. Tehran says the two-week truce with Israel and the United States concluded on Wednesday also covers Lebanon. However, both Washington and the government in Jerusalem reject this. Israel escalated the conflict on Wednesday, carrying out the heaviest strikes in Lebanon since the start of the war, killing more than 300 people.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer criticized Israel’s actions on Thursday and called the attacks wrong. “This shouldn’t happen, it should stop, that’s my clear opinion,” the prime minister said, calling it a “matter of principle”.
