BEIRUT, JUN 7 (AP): Israel struck the southern Beirut suburbs on Sunday, just days after a ceasefire agreement in Washington went into effect.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the strikes were in retaliation for the Hezbollah militant group firing toward northern Israel earlier, and that the attacks targeted “command centres” in the sprawling urban neighbourhoods. Hezbollah did not immediately claim responsibility for firing at Israel.
The strikes come after the Lebanese and Israeli governments in Washington renewed a ceasefire agreement in ongoing talks that Beirut hopes will bring an end to the war across the country. There was no immediate word of casualties.
Israel had already struck the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital twice since the first agreement between Lebanon and Israel went into effect on April 17. Strikes over southern Lebanon continue daily, meanwhile, and Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops have also clashed.
Israel announced on Monday that it would strike the southern suburbs after Hezbollah claimed attacks in northern Israel, but last-gasp talks via Washington halted the attacks, on the condition that Hezbollah stop targeting Israel’s border towns.
Iran had warned that an attack on the Lebanese capital would trigger renewed full-scale war across the Mideast, amid ongoing efforts by Pakistan to restart talks between Tehran and Washington.
Fire continues between Israel and Hezbollah: The Iranian-backed Hezbollah has rejected the US-brokered deal and instead endorsed Iran’s demand that ending the war in Lebanon be part of the negotiations with the US
The fighting in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have seized large swaths of the south in its latest ground invasion, threatens efforts to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit point for oil and gas. Its closure has jolted the world economy.
Iran has demanded that any lasting truce extend to Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces elections later this year, wants to press ahead with Israel’s offensive until he considers that Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.
Lebanon’s army commander, Gen. Rodolphe Haikal, headed to Pakistan Saturday at the invitation of Pakistan’s army chief. The Lebanese army gave no further details and did not say whether it is related to Pakistan’s mediation between Iran and the US
Iran says it targeted a US air base and the Navy: The US military said Saturday that it had shot down several Iranian missiles and drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf Arab allies, and struck some of the Islamic Republic’s coastal surveillance radar sites in response.
“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” US Central Command said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had targeted the Ali Al Salem air base, which hosts US forces in Kuwait, and the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
The US military said there were no reports of harm to US personnel.
Earlier in the month, Iranian drones heavily damaged a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport, killing one person and wounding dozens.
The US military has kept up its blockade on Iranian ports in response to Tehran’s grip on the strait, a crucial corridor for global oil and natural gas shipments.
Energy prices have spiked, posing political problems for US President Donald Trump’s Republican Party ahead of midterm congressional elections in November.
