[🇱🇧] Lebanon - Israel Conflict -2024

[Ghazi52]

Lebanon's PM condemns Israeli attack on Nabatieh
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Lebanon's prime minister has condemned the Israeli strikes on Nabatieh - which his office say "intentionally targeted a meeting of the municipal council".

Prime Minister Najib Mikati says "this new aggression, coupled with all the crimes committed by the Israeli enemy against civilians, is a design of the world that is deliberately silent about the crimes of the occupation, which encourages it to persist in its transgression and crimes".

He also questions the use of demanding a ceasefire from the UN, "if all the countries of the world are unable to deter a blatant aggression against the Lebanese people.

"What can deter the enemy from its crimes that have reached the point of targeting peacekeeping forces in the south? What solution can be hoped for in light of this reality?"

 

[Ghazi52]

Israeli strikes on Beirut seemed to defy US pressure​

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Beirut

Image source, Reuters
The scene in southern Beirut on Wednesday, after the Israeli strikes

The Israeli air strikes on Beirut this morning – after five days of respite for the Lebanese capital – came just hours after the US said it opposed the "scope and nature" of Israel’s bombing campaign on the city.

State department spokesman Matthew Miller told a briefing on Tuesday that the US had expressed its concerns to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they were "made clear to the government of Israel".



As my colleagues covered earlier, there had been reports that the unexpected pause in air strikes against Beirut was the result of a US intervention.

The strikes on Wednesday morning came shortly after Netanyahu rejected the idea of a ceasefire that would leave Hezbollah close to the northern Israeli border.

He told the French president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday he was "opposed to a unilateral ceasefire which does not change the security situation in Lebanon, and which would return the country to its previous state" according to a read-out from his office.

Also on Tuesday, in a televised address, Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said the only solution to the recent escalation was a ceasefire - while also threatening to continue targeting Israel with missiles.

Image source, Reuters

Before the recent pause, Israel had hit southern Beirut on a near-daily basis

 

[Ghazi52]

Nowhere in Lebanon seems safe, say people in Beirut​

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Image source, Reuters
Mohamed Gradi warns the 'situation is only getting worse' 15 days into Israel's ground operation in Lebanon

We just brought you pictures from Beirut - now we can bring you quotes from some of the people there.

Mohamed Gradi, 57, says there is no part of Lebanon where people feel safe.

"You see displacement, people not finding places to stay," he tells Reuters.

"[People] got displaced from the south, from Dahieh [Beirut’s southern suburbs], from Bekaa, and even from areas of our fellow Christians, they as well got displaced."

Meanwhile, displaced Mostafa Saleh, 48, says Israel's air strikes could increase support for Hezbollah.

"If they think that they can scare the supporting environment [of Hezbollah] this way - on the contrary...look at us... we are living not like human beings, we are homeless."

 

[Ghazi52]

In pictures: Displaced people start the day on Beirut streets​

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon since Israel stepped up its air strikes last month, according to the Lebanese government.

Many have fled southern towns and villages and moved north to the nation's capital.

These images from this morning show displaced people who have been sleeping on rolled-out rugs or in makeshift shelters on the streets of central Beirut.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

 

[Ghazi52]

As Israeli strikes resume, there are no guarantees for people in Beirut​

Nafiseh Kohnavard
Middle East correspondent, BBC World Service, in Beirut

The air strikes on Beirut this morning came less than 24 hours after Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati told Al Jazeera that the US had given "some kind of a guarantee" that Israel would de-escalate in Beirut and its suburbs.

But in the same hour the interview was being broadcast, here in Beirut, Israeli surveillance drones were flying low across the city, and Israeli jets caused sonic booms that sounded like actual explosions.

There had been days of anonymous quotes from US, Israeli and Lebanese officials regarding "a guarantee to stop attacks on Beirut and its southern suburbs".

Even Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the pause after talking to US President Joe Biden. Although this was denied by Netanyahu himself, some Israeli channels quoted unknown officials that such agreement was in place.

As we reported earlier, Israel says its air force targeted an underground Hezbollah weapons site.

Whatever the target was, the strikes sent a message that there is no guarantee that Beirut and its southern suburb will be excluded from Israeli attacks.

People in Beirut are back to square one - with PM Mikati’s words vanishing in the air.

Image source, Reuters
Displaced people in Beirut, in a school turned shelter

 

[Ghazi52]

Hezbollah launches rocket barrages towards Israel​

From CNN's Jessie Yeung

Hezbollah said it sent “barrages” of rockets into several areas of northern Israel overnight, while the Israeli military said it had identified dozens of projectiles launched from Lebanon.

About 50 “projectiles” were identified crossing into Israeli territory, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“Some of the projectiles were intercepted and fallen projectiles were identified in the area,” the IDF said.

The IDF did not report any injuries. The extent of the damage is unclear.

The attack comes a day after Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem called on Israelis to accept a ceasefire in Lebanon or face “pain” as the group changes its strategy to strike harder and deeper into Israel.

Israel is opposed to a “unilateral ceasefire” in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

 

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