Israel launched a wave of air strikes on Hezbollah bastions in Beirut and south Lebanon on Saturday, a day after Lebanese authorities officers mentioned they had been learning a US truce proposal.
An Israeli strike on neighbouring Syria earlier this week killed two leaders from Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group which has fought alongside Hamas militants in Gaza, a supply advised AFP.
Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad are all backed by Israel’s arch-enemy Iran, which on Friday mentioned it backed a swift finish to the almost two-month conflict in Lebanon.
Since September 23, Israel has escalated its bombing of targets in Lebanon, later sending in floor troops after nearly a yr of restricted, cross-border exchanges of fireside begun by Hezbollah militants over the Gaza conflict.
AFPTV footage confirmed recent strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut on Saturday, following calls from the Israeli military for residents to evacuate.
Lebanon’s state-run Nationwide Information Company mentioned “the enemy” carried out three air raids within the morning, later reporting one other assault within the neighbourhood of Chiyah.
The Israeli army mentioned its plane had focused “a weapons storage facility” and a Hezbollah “command centre” in south Beirut.
NNA additionally reported a strike on the southern metropolis of Tyre, in a neighbourhood close to UNESCO-listed historical ruins.
Elsewhere in south Lebanon, the well being ministry mentioned Israeli strikes killed two rescuers affiliated with Hezbollah and its ally Amal.
Hezbollah claimed a number of rocket assaults on northern Israel, focusing on army websites together with a naval base within the Haifa space.
Lebanese authorities say that greater than 3,440 individuals have been killed since October final yr, when Hezbollah and Israel started buying and selling fireplace.
– ‘Large explosion’ –
In Hamas-run Gaza, the Israeli army mentioned its forces continued “operational exercise” within the northern areas of Jabalia and Beit Lahia, the targets of an intense offensive since early October.
Troops additionally operated within the southern district of Rafah, the military mentioned.
Israel says its renewed operations within the ravaged north had been meant to cease Hamas militants from regrouping.
A UN-backed evaluation on the weekend warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, and UN figures confirmed the Israeli operation had pressured at the least 100,000 individuals to flee.
Israel has pushed again in opposition to a Human Rights Watch report this week that mentioned its displacement of Gazans quantities to a “crime in opposition to humanity”, in addition to findings from a UN Particular Committee that pointed to warfare practices that “are per the traits of genocide”.
A overseas ministry spokesman dismissed the HRW report as “fully false”, whereas the USA — Israel’s fundamental army backer — mentioned accusations of genocide “are actually unfounded”.
The Gaza well being ministry mentioned at the least 35 individuals had been killed within the territory within the earlier 24 hours, taking the general dying toll in additional than 13 months of conflict to 43,799.
Nearly all of the useless had been civilians, based on ministry figures which the United Nations considers dependable.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 assault on Israel that sparked the conflict resulted within the deaths of 1,206 individuals, principally civilians, based on an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The civil defence company reported 11 individuals killed in strikes throughout Gaza early on Saturday.
In Rafah, Jamil al-Masry mentioned a home was hit, inflicting “an enormous explosion”.
“We went to the home, solely to search out it in ruins, with fireplace raging and smoke and dirt in all places,” he advised AFP.
Folks “began looking for martyrs and survivors” with their naked palms, he mentioned, with some “nonetheless beneath the rubble”.
– Iranian help –
In a uncommon declare of duty for a strike on Syria, Israel mentioned it focused the Islamic Jihad group on Thursday.
A supply from the group advised AFP on Saturday that Abdel Aziz Minawi, a member of Islamic Jihad’s political bureau, and the group’s overseas relations chief Rasmi Abu Issa had been killed within the strike on Qudsaya, within the Damascus space.
Islamic Jihad nonetheless holds a number of Israeli hostages taken throughout the October 7 assault on southern Israel. Earlier this week, the group launched two video clips of Sasha Trupanov, a 29-year-old Russian-Israeli hostage.
As diplomacy geared toward ending the Gaza conflict has stalled, a prime authorities official in Beirut mentioned on Friday that US ambassador Lisa Johnson had offered a 13-point proposal to halt the Israel-Hezbollah battle.
It features a 60-day truce, throughout which Lebanon will deploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has but to answer the plan.
A second Lebanese official, equally requesting anonymity to debate delicate issues, mentioned he was “optimistic” concerning the talks.
A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Lebanese officers in Beirut on Friday, saying Tehran was “in search of options”.
Ali Larijani mentioned Iran supported the Lebanese authorities and “the resistance” — Hezbollah — “beneath any circumstances”.
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