Israel pummels Beirut as security cabinet prepares to discuss ceasefire deal with Hezbollah

WAVES OF ISRAELI strikes pounded Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold today, despite claims that Israel is “close” to agreeing to a ceasefire in Lebanon with Hezbollah.

Footage today appeared to show the most intense raids on the Lebanese capital in two months of full-scale war with Israel.

Plumes of smoke rose over Beirut as Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike on a building in the centre of the capital, after the Israeli army warned people to evacuate the area.

The Israeli military said it had struck around 30 targets belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon since this morning, before the country’s security cabinet meets to decide on a ceasefire deal.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity had previously said the security cabinet would make its decision this evening.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said yesterday that the talks were progressing but not yet finalised, though they had reached a “point where we’re close”.

The United States and France have led the efforts to broker a ceasefire.

US news outlet Axios reported that the draft agreement included a 60-day transition period.

During that time, Israeli forces would withdraw, the Lebanese army would redeploy near the border and Hezbollah would move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River, Axios said.

A US-led committee would oversee implementation, with provisions allowing Israel to act against imminent threats if Lebanese forces failed to intervene.

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Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told the UN’s Lebanon envoy today that his country would have “zero tolerance” when defending its security interests, even after a truce.

“If you do not act, we will do it, forcefully,” Katz told envoy Janine Hennis-Plasschaert during a meeting in Tel Aviv, according to a statement from his office.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock today said that an agreement on a proposed ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was “within reach”.

“A ceasefire and steps towards a political solution along the lines of UN Resolution 1701 are within reach thanks to direct US and French mediation,” Baerbock told reporters on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Italy.

Meanwhile, British prime minister Keir Starmer called for an end to the fighting, insisting that a ceasefire was “the only way to restore security” for civilians in Lebanon and northern Israel, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Israel had “no more excuses” to refuse a deal.

Israeli media have reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to endorse the US ceasefire proposal.

The war in Lebanon followed nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah.

The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of Hamas after the group’s 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Lebanon says at least 3,768 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them in the past several weeks.

On the Israeli side, the Lebanon hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say, who also reported that around 250 projectiles were launched at its territory on Sunday.

Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel last year resulted in the deaths of 1,207 people, most of them civilians.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 44,249 people in Gaza, according to figures from the region’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

- © AFP 2024