Hezbollah stopped firing on northern Israel and on Israeli troops in Lebanon in the early hours of Wednesday as part of the US-Iran ceasefire, three Lebanese sources close to the group told Reuters — but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swiftly declared that the truce did not extend to Lebanon, leaving the country’s status deeply ambiguous.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key intermediary in the ceasefire negotiations, had said the two-week truce would include Lebanon, where a new war between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel broke out on 2 March. Reuters reported last month that Iran had sought Lebanon’s inclusion in any agreement it reached with the United States.
Hezbollah’s last public statement on its military activity, posted at 1 a.m. on Wednesday, said it had targeted Israeli troops inside Lebanon the previous evening. The three Lebanese sources said the group was expected to issue a formal statement outlining its position on the ceasefire and on Netanyahu’s assertion that Lebanon was excluded.
Israel issued a new evacuation order for one southern Lebanese city on Wednesday, signalling it intended to strike there imminently. Lebanon’s army urged displaced families to delay their return home, warning of continuing Israeli attacks and the dangers posed by unexploded ordnance.
More than 1,500 people have been killed in Israel’s air and ground campaign across Lebanon since the conflict began, including 130 children and more than 100 women. Israeli strikes and evacuation orders covering large swathes of the south, east and Beirut’s southern suburbs have displaced more than 1.2 million people.
(Reuters)
Read more: