This Monday, November 25, the Israeli army carried out new strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, where its troops are engaged in intense fighting with the pro-Iranian movement in the south, at a time when the international community is intensifying its pressure on the belligerents for a ceasefire.
These raids come following a weekend marked by an intensification of violence between Israel and Hezbollah, at open war since the end of September after a year of cross-border fire exchanges which displaced tens of thousands of people from both sides of the border.
Information to remember
⇒ New Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut
⇒ The head of European Union diplomacy, Josep Borrell, calls for an “immediate ceasefire”
⇒ Israeli strike that killed three journalists in Lebanon is an “apparent war crime,” according to HRW
New Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut
Intensely shelled on Sunday by Israeli aircraft, the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, were targeted by three new strikes on Monday morning, after an Israeli evacuation order, according to the official Lebanese agency Ani. The Israeli army claimed to have struck “several Hezbollah command centers”. As a result, the Lebanese Ministry of Education announced the suspension of face-to-face classes in Beirut and its surroundings on Monday.
The IDF also claimed that its deadly strike on Saturday in Beirut targeted a Hezbollah command center and reported around 250 projectiles fired from Lebanon on Sunday. This series of Hezbollah attacks, one of the most violent against the country since the end of September, left 24 injured, including 13 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Towards a ceasefire?
Visiting Beirut on Sunday, the head of European Union diplomacy, Josep Borrell, called for an “immediate ceasefire”. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, reported a “window of opportunity” for a truce, calling on Israel and the Lebanese to seize it.
According to the American news site Axiosthe two parties are moving towards an agreement on the basis of an American project providing for a 60-day truce during which Hezbollah and the Israeli army would withdraw from southern Lebanon, to let the Lebanese army deploy there. The plan, brought to both parties last week by American envoy Amos Hochstein, includes the establishment of an international committee to monitor its implementation, according to Axios. The site reports American assurances to support Israeli military action in the event of hostile actions by Hezbollah.
Far-right Israeli minister says ceasefire in Lebanon would be ‘a big mistake’
Itamar Ben Gvir, Minister of National Security and far-right ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned this Monday, on the social network “a missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”
“As I had already warned Gaza, I now also warn: Mr. Prime Minister, it is not too late to put an end to this agreement! We must continue until absolute victory!”, insisted Itamar Ben Gvir.
Intensive strikes in southern Lebanon
According to Ani, the Israeli army also carried out other air raids this Monday in various sectors of southern Lebanon, where “fierce” fighting pits it against Hezbollah.
Israeli troops dynamited houses in the town of Khiam, close to the border between the two countries, where they advanced “under the cover of raids, artillery fire and phosphorus shots”, indicated Ani . She reported Israeli bombing of Beaufort Castle, a ruined Crusader fortress used as a base by the Israeli army during its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon, completed in 2000.
Israeli strike that killed three journalists in Lebanon is an ‘apparent war crime’: HRW
Human Rights Watch on Monday called the Israeli strike that killed three journalists in Lebanon last month an “apparent war crime”, adding that a bomb fitted with an American-made guidance kit had been used.
The strike, which occurred on October 25, targeted a tourist complex in Hasbaya, in southern Lebanon, where a dozen journalists working for Lebanese and Arab media were staying. The Israeli military said the attack targeted Hezbollah fighters and was “being examined.” HRW considers that it constitutes “very likely a deliberate attack against civilians, and therefore an apparent war crime”.