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Ceasefire, then strikes
On Monday, President Donald Trump said Israel would not carry out strikes against Hezbollah in Beirut in exchange for Hezbollah halting its attacks on northern Israel and IDF soldiers, and Trump wrote that Netanyahu “turned his Troops around.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has firmly condemned the intensification of Israeli strikes aimed at Lebanon, reaffirming its diplomatic alignment with Beirut”
Trump’s announcement came after Netanyahu had said he “instructed the IDF to strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” and the Lebanese Embassy in Washington said Lebanese authorities received confirmation of Hezbollah’s agreement to the U.S. proposal for a mutual cessation of attacks.
The Christian Science Monitor reported that Israel ordered new airstrikes in Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs on Monday, one day after Israel recaptured the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon.
The BBC said Israel’s prime minister ordered attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut, with Benjamin Netanyahu warning that Dahieh would be struck in response to rocket and drone attacks on Israeli civilians and other violations of a ceasefire announced in April that failed to end the fighting.
As the ceasefire language circulated, the UN urged calm, with Stephane Dujarric saying, “We urge all actors to respect the cessation of hostilities and avoid further escalation.”
Warnings, evacuations, and deaths
Netanyahu framed the arrangement as conditional, telling Trump that if Hezbollah does not stop firing at cities and civilians, “Israel will strike terrorist targets in Beirut,” while also saying the IDF would continue operating in southern Lebanon as planned.
The BBC reported that after Netanyahu and Israel Katz ordered strikes on Dahieh, traffic jams formed on roads out of the suburbs as thousands tried to flee, and it quoted Katz warning, “if there is no calm in the north, there will be no calm in Beirut.”
The AP reported that Trump said there would be no Israeli troops “going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” while Netanyahu confirmed the conversation but cast it as a warning tied to Hezbollah’s attacks.
Euronews reported that an Israeli airstrike heavily damaged the Jabal Amel Hospital in the port city of Tyre on Monday afternoon, shattering windows and blowing out facades.
Euronews also said the overnight bombardments across southern Lebanon killed 6 people, according to the state-run National News Agency, and it described Hezbollah rocket and missile attacks on northern Israel including the outskirts of Haifa.
Talks, displacement, and pressure
The BBC said the conflict poses a major obstacle to US efforts to forge a deal to end its war with Iran, with Tehran insisting that any ceasefire must include Lebanon, and it quoted Abbas Araghchi saying, “Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts.”
“Moment by moment via the Al-Nahar channel on WhatsApp”
NBC News reported that Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said Israeli attacks in Lebanon were among factors causing a delay to the diplomatic process to end the U.S.-Iran war, and it said Netanyahu and Israel Katz ordered the Israeli military to attack “terrorist targets” in Dahiyeh.
The National reported that fighting has displaced more than 1.2 million Lebanese and that over 3,370 were killed, while Israeli casualties included 24 soldiers and four civilians.
The Times of Israel said Israel announced it would renew strikes on Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut after curtailing attacks on the Lebanese capital for weeks at the request of Trump’s administration, and it quoted Netanyahu saying, “There will be no situation in which Hezbollah attacks our cities and citizens while the terror headquarters in Dahiyeh remain off-limits.”
In the same reporting, the BBC said at least 3,433 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the war, according to the country’s health ministry, and it said Israel says 24 of its soldiers and four Israeli civilians have been killed over the same period.
