'Belt of fire' as Israeli strikes hit Beirut suburbs

The Israeli army said it was attacking Hezbollah targets in Lebanese capital Beirut on a large scale

It earlier issued evacuation warnings for 20 locations in Beirut suburbs, according to a statement from the Israeli army's Arabic spokesperson on X, the largest such warning yet.

Plumes of smoke rose over Beirut as Lebanese media reported an Israeli strike on a building in the centre of the capital.

At least ten simultaneous Israeli strikes pounded the southern suburbs and appeared to be the largest simultaneous attack across the area so far.

Lebanese state media reported an Israeli strike on a Beirut building housing displaced people, killing one according to authorities, as raids formed "a belt of fire" around the capital's southern suburbs.

"The Israeli strike on the Nweiri area in Beirut destroyed a four-storey building housing displaced people," Lebanon's National News Agency said.

The strike killed one person and injured ten others, the health ministry said.

Shortly after the Beirut strike, "a belt of fire has encircled (Beirut's) southern suburbs, as raids targeted Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik and Hadath, with smoke covering most of the southern suburbs and reaching Beirut," the NNA said.

The strikes come as Israel's security cabinet will meet this afternoon to discuss a proposed ceasefire deal in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said.

"It is extremely sensitive and I do not want to go into details about it because of the sensitivity of the issue," Ms Haskel told reporters in Jerusalem.

The cabinet is expected to approve the text at the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior Israeli official said.

This would pave the way for a ceasefire declaration by US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, four senior Lebanese sources told Reuters.

Lebanon's foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib said he hoped that the ceasefire would be agreed in the coming hours.

He said the Lebanese army would be ready to have at least 5,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon as Israeli troops withdraw, and that the United States could play a role in rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by Israeli strikes.

In Washington, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday that they were "close" but "nothing is done until everything is done".

The French presidency said discussions on a ceasefire had made significant progress.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said there was no reason for the deal to be refused.

"There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire... No more excuses. No more additional requests. Stop this fighting. Stop killing people," Mr Borrell said at a G7 foreign ministers meeting near Rome.

Israel demands effective UN enforcement of an eventual ceasefire with Lebanon and will show "zero tolerance" toward any infraction, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

The agreement with Lebanon will maintain Israel's freedom of operation there to act in defence to remove Hezbollah's threat and enable the safe return of the residents of the north of Israel to their homes, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told Reuters.

The agreement has already won approval in Beirut, where Lebanon's deputy parliament speaker official told Reuters there were no serious obstacles left to start implementing it - unless Mr Netanyahu changed his mind.

Mr Netanyahu's office declined to comment yesterday on reports that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to the text of a deal.

Hezbollah, seen as a terrorist group by the US, has endorsed its ally Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to negotiate.

The plan requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanese army troops to deploy in the border region - a Hezbollah stronghold - within 60 days, Elias Bou Saab, Lebanon's deputy parliament speaker, and a second Israeli official told Reuters.

Signs of a breakthrough have been accompanied by military escalation, with Israeli airstrikes demolishing more of Beirut's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs yesterday.

The destruction across wide areas of Lebanon brings into focus a huge reconstruction bill awaiting cash-strapped Lebanon, with more than one million people displaced.

In Israel, a ceasefire will pave the way for 60,000 people to return to homes in the north, which they evacuated as Hezbollah began firing rockets in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas a day the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel has dealt Hezbollah massive blows since going on the offensive against the group in September, killing its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders, and pounding areas of Lebanon where the group holds sway.

The group has kept up rocket fire into Israel, firing some 250 rockets on Sunday.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said yesterday that Israel would maintain an ability to strike southern Lebanon under any agreement. Lebanon has previously objected to Israel being granted such a right, and Lebanese officials have said such language is not included in the draft proposal.

Israel would be able to strike against "imminent threats" only, the second Israeli official said.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said yesterday gaps between the two parties have narrowed significantly but there are still steps they need to take to reach an agreement.

"Oftentimes the very last stages of an agreement are the most difficult because the hardest issues are left to the end," he said. "We are pushing as hard as we can."

In Beirut, Mr Bou Saab told Reuters there were "no serious obstacles" left to start implementing a US-proposed ceasefire with Israel, "unless Netanyahu changes his mind".

Over the past year, more than 3,750 people have been killed and over one million have been forced from their homes, according to Lebanon's health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.

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Hezbollah strikes have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, the Golan Heights and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.

Mr Biden's administration, which leaves office in January, has emphasised diplomacy to end the Lebanon conflict, even as all negotiations to halt the parallel war in Gaza are frozen.

US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk is in Saudi Arabia to discuss using a potential Lebanon ceasefire as a catalyst for a deal ending hostilities in Gaza, the White House said.

Diplomacy over Lebanon has focused on restoring a ceasefire based on UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the last major war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.

It requires Hezbollah to pull its fighters back around 30km from the Israeli border, behind the Litani River, and the regular Lebanese army to enter the frontier region.

Israel has long complained that 1701 was never properly implemented, pointing to the presence of Hezbollah fighters and weapons at the border. Lebanon has also complained that Israel has violated the agreement, noting regular violations of Lebanese airspace by Israeli warplanes.