Wars 2023 10/08 Monitoring the Israel and Lebanon War

Wars 2023 10/08 Monitoring the Israel and Lebanon War
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Israeli strikes kill three in Lebanon
Agence France-Presse . Beirut, Lebanon 22 April, 2026, 22:46

Israeli strikes killed three people in Lebanon on Wednesday, Lebanese state media said, despite an on-going 10-day ceasefire, which an official said Beirut will request an extension for in the upcoming talks with Israel in Washington.

Ahead of the talks on Thursday, Israel called on the Lebanese government to ‘work together’ with it against Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The two governments, which do not have diplomatic relations with each other, are set to hold a second round of talks under US auspices on Thursday, in a bid to end more than six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah that began on March 2.

Lebanon will request a one-month extension of the ceasefire during the meeting with Israel, a Lebanese official said.

‘Lebanon will request an extension of the truce for one month, an end of Israel’s bombing and destruction in the areas where it is present, and a commitment to the ceasefire,’ the Lebanese official said.

The ten-day ceasefire, which expires Sunday, was announced after an initial meeting last week.

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, for his part, said Wednesday that ‘contacts are underway to extend the ceasefire period’.

He said Lebanon seeks ‘a complete halt on Israeli attacks and the achievement of an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory’.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said Wednesday that Israel does not have any ‘serious disagreements’ with Lebanon.

‘Unfortunately, Lebanon is a failed state, a state that is de facto under Iranian occupation through Hezbollah,’ he said.

Hezbollah — represented in the Lebanese cabinet and parliament — strongly opposes the direct talks with Israel pushed by Aoun and prime minister Nawaf Salam.

A Hezbollah lawmaker however said on Monday that the group might accept indirect talks mediated by the United States.

‘The obstacle to peace and normalisation between the two countries is one — Hezbollah,’ said Saar.

Despite the truce, Israel is continuing its strikes in Lebanon, where one person was killed Wednesday in the eastern Bekaa region, and two were killed in the country’s south, according to state media.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 2,454 people since the start of the war, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israeli forces remain in dozens of southern villages, behind what the army has called a ‘Yellow Line’, described by the Israelis as a 10-kilometre deep ‘security zone’ along the border in southern Lebanon.

Most locals have fled the area, though residents of some Christian villages have been defying Israeli army evacuation orders.

Hezbollah, for its part, said it carried out an attack on northern Israel on Tuesday in response to Israel’s ‘flagrant’ violations of the ceasefire, for the first time since it came into effect on Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron also said on Wednesday that a second French soldier died ‘of the consequences of his wounds’ suffered in a weekend ambush against UN peacekeepers in Lebanon blamed on Hezbollah, which has denied responsibility.​
 

Lebanon-Israel ceasefire extended by 3 weeks: Trump

Reuters, Washington

1776990796845.webp

File Photo: AFP
  • Hezbollah wants truce to continue, says Israel must comply​
  • Israeli strikes killed five on Wednesday​
  • Lebanon war was ignited by US-Israeli war with Iran​

The ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel was extended for three weeks after a high-level meeting at the White House, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday.

Trump hosted Israel's ambassador to Washington Yechiel Leiter and Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Moawad in the Oval Office for a second round of US-facilitated talks, a day after Israeli strikes killed at least five people including a journalist.

"The Meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump added that he looked forward to hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in the near future.

The ceasefire, reached after talks between the two nations' ambassadors to Washington last week and set to expire on Sunday, has yielded a significant reduction in violence. Attacks have continued in southern Lebanon, however, where Israeli troops have seized a self-declared buffer zone.

Iran-backed Hezbollah says it has "the right to resist" occupying forces.

Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa also attended the meeting.

DEADLIEST DAY SINCE CEASEFIRE

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it killed two armed individuals in southern Lebanon after identifying them approaching soldiers and posing what it described as an immediate threat.

It was not immediately clear whether the incident was related to strikes reported earlier in nearby areas by Lebanon's health ministry, which said an Israeli air strike had killed three people and artillery shelling wounded two others, including a child.

Wednesday was Lebanon's deadliest day since the ceasefire took effect on April 16.

Those killed by Israeli strikes included Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil, according to a senior Lebanese military official and her employer, Al-Akhbar newspaper.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the group wanted the ceasefire to continue but "on the basis of full compliance by the Israeli enemy". At a televised press conference, he reiterated Hezbollah's objections to the face-to-face talks and urged the government to cancel all forms of direct contact with Israel.

Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Iran in the regional war. The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce.

Hezbollah said it carried out four operations in south Lebanon on Wednesday in response to Israeli strikes.

Nearly 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel went on the offensive following Hezbollah's March 2 attack, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel is occupying a belt of the south that extends 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 miles) into Lebanon, saying it aims to shield northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which has fired hundreds of rockets during the war.

Israel's military reiterated a warning to residents of south Lebanon not to cross into the area.

LEBANON TO SEEK END TO ISRAELI DEMOLITIONS

Fadlallah said full compliance with the ceasefire meant Israel must "halt assassinations, completely cease fire ... halt the destruction of villages," followed by paving the way for an Israeli withdrawal through "procedures undertaken by the Lebanese state but not via direct negotiations."

A Lebanese official said Beirut wants a ceasefire extension as a prerequisite for talks to expand beyond the ambassadorial level to the next phase, in which Lebanon would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel and a delineation of the land border.

Israel says its objectives in the talks with Lebanon include securing the dismantlement of Hezbollah and creating conditions for a peace deal. Israel has sought to make common cause with Lebanon's government over Hezbollah, which Beirut has been seeking to disarm peacefully for the past year.

Rubio hosted the first meeting between Leiter and Moawad on April 14 - the highest-level contact between Lebanon and Israel in decades.

Washington has denied any link between its Lebanon mediation and diplomacy over the Iran war.

Hezbollah says the Lebanon ceasefire was the result of Iranian pressure rather than US mediation.​
 

UN says Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Hezbollah rockets into Israel may breach international law

REUTERS

Published :
Apr 24, 2026 21:35
Updated :
Apr 24, 2026 21:35

1777076670710.webp

Workers clean a restaurant that was damaged by an Israeli strike, amid a temporary ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, in Tyre, Lebanon, April 23, 2026. Photo : REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/Files

The U.N. human rights office said on Friday it has documented patterns of attacks on civilians in populated areas and residential buildings in Lebanon and Israel that may amount ‌to serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The report covers the first three weeks of the latest escalation, which began after Hezbollah launched attacks on Israel on March 2, prompting Israel to respond with a large‑scale military offensive.

Since then, nearly 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities, amid widespread displacement and heavy damage to civilian infrastructure. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a three-week extension to a ceasefire.

The Israeli military and Hezbollah did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment about ⁠the report.

RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS STRUCK, OHCHR SAYS

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights documented several cases in which Israeli strikes hit, and in some instances destroyed, multi‑storey residential buildings, killing entire families in Lebanon, which may constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law, OHCHR spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said.

The report cited the example of an Israeli strike on March 8 that hit a multi‑storey residential building in the town of Sir el‑Gharbiyeh, in the Nabatiyeh governorate. The strike killed at least 13 civilians inside the building, including five women, five men, two boys and a girl.

The office said incidents such as this raised concerns about compliance with the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack under international humanitarian law.

The report also said the OHCHR had found Hezbollah was firing unguided rockets that lacked the ‌precision required ⁠to strike specific military targets, and damaged buildings and other civilian infrastructure in Israel, which likely violated international humanitarian law.

While the office noted that notifications, including blanket evacuation warnings, had been issued by Israeli forces before some strikes in Lebanon, it identified cases in which warnings were either not given, were ineffective, or prevented many civilians from evacuating safely.

WARNING AFTER JOURNALIST KILLED

Meanwhile, the OHCHR also said on Friday that attacks on journalists could amount to war ⁠crimes if they were deliberate.

An Israeli strike on Wednesday killed Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil and injured photographer Zeinab Faraj, who was accompanying her in southern Lebanon.

Rescue teams, including the Lebanese Red Cross, faced obstruction by the Israeli military when trying to reach them, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

“This included the use of a sound ⁠grenade and live fire targeting an ambulance, delaying access to the site,” Al-Kheetan added.

The Israeli military said the Israeli Air Force troops struck a vehicle and a structure after two vehicles in southern Lebanon were identified as leaving a Hezbollah military site, and crossed the Forward ⁠Defence Line, which posed an immediate threat.

It received reports that two journalists were injured, the army said, but it did not prevent rescue teams from reaching the area. The army does not deliberately target journalists or medical teams and the incident is under review, it added.​
 

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