Hezbollah Kills Israeli Soldier With Anti-Tank Missile as Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Fails

An Israeli soldier was killed by a Hezbollah anti-tank missile in southern Lebanon on Thursday afternoon, according to the Israeli military, as Israel and Hezbollah traded new strikes just hours after Israel and Lebanon agreed to implement a ceasefire on Wednesday.

“Toggle Play Lebanon latest: Hezbollah rejects US plan as Israel continues attacks Al Jazeera’s Obaida Hitto brings you the latest from southern Lebanon where a new diplomatic push has done little to quell the violence”

Al Jazeera

CNN said fresh strikes in Lebanon came after the ceasefire agreement, noting that Hezbollah is not party to the deal and that the leader of the Iran-backed militant group rejected the pact.

Al Jazeera

CBS News reported that Lebanon and Israel agreed to renew their ceasefire, but said it would be contingent on Iran-backed Hezbollah ceasing fire and on Hezbollah operatives leaving part of southern Lebanon.

CBS News also said Hezbollah on Thursday rejected the truce, which includes the creation of "pilot" security zones inside Lebanon where the Iranian-backed militant group would be banned.

In the same CBS account, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that "no tangible progress" has been made in negotiations to end the war, while warning that any Israeli attack on Beirut would trigger a "full-scale resumption" of the U.S.-Iran conflict.

Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem rejected the latest ceasefire agreement in a written statement read on TV, calling the negotiations "absurd, humiliating and insulting" and saying the demand that Hezbollah fighters leave southern Lebanon under fire would mean "surrender, defeat and achieving the enemy’s goals."

In response to Hezbollah’s rejection, President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office, "Hezbollah called us and said, 'How about stopping?'"

Al-Manar TV Lebanon

BBC reported that in a strongly-worded statement, Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem said negotiations had been "futile" and "humiliating" for Lebanon, and rejected categorically by "broad segments of the Lebanese people".

BBC also quoted a storekeeper in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Sami, saying, "You cannot have a ceasefire from one side, it's going to be an all side or no ceasefire."

The Guardian said Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem called the plan a "roadmap to annihilate part of the Lebanese people" and demanded a complete ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon.

The ceasefire framework described in multiple reports centered on "pilot" security zones in which Hezbollah operatives would be banned, with the Lebanese Armed Forces taking exclusive control of territory to the exclusion of all non-state actors.

BBC said the agreement between Israel and Lebanon was contingent on the "evacuation of all [Hezbollah] operatives" from an area between the Israeli border and the Litani river, about 30km (19 miles) to the north, which is currently occupied by Israeli ground forces.

The Guardian reported that Israel said it would continue its fire and operations on the ground, with Israel Katz saying it had "freedom of action, backed by the United States, to strike Beirut" in response to attacks on Israeli communities and territory.

CNN said the U.S. House rejected a Democrat-led Lebanon war powers resolution, defeating it on a 92-324 vote, and described the resolution introduced by progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib as directing the president to remove US armed services from the country within seven days.

In the same CNN account, President Donald Trump claimed "progress has been made" in ending the fighting in Lebanon after Hezbollah rejected the ceasefire agreement reached between the Lebanese government and Israel, while also saying the conflict is "interconnected with Iran".