Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said his country’s forces had pushed deeper into Lebanon, even as military delegations from both countries held landmark security talks in Washington.
Israel kept up its heavy bombardment of south Lebanon, with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun emphasizing in a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio “the need to exert all efforts to reach a ceasefire.”
A truce to halt the fighting between Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah officially took effect on April 17, but has never been observed, with Iran insisting that Lebanon be included in any agreement with the US to end the wider war that engulfed the region in February.
Photo: AFP
Israel and Hezbollah accuse each other of violating the April ceasefire and justify their attacks by the other’s alleged breaches.
Israeli forces had advanced beyond a river that runs about 30km north of the Lebanon-Israel frontier, Netanyahu said.
“Our forces have crossed the Litani, they have moved up to the commanding terrain,” he said in a video released by his office.
Israel and Lebanon began direct talks in April, with a fourth round expected next week in Washington following Friday’s meeting at the Pentagon, running parallel to efforts by the US to strike a deal with Iran to end the regional war and blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Fighting raged despite the talks, with Israeli strikes in the southern city of Tyre killing 11 people, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said, calling the bombardment a “flagrant violation of humanitarian law.”
Hezbollah said it had launched attacks targeting soldiers, barracks and a military camp in northern Israel on Friday, and Israel’s military yesterday confirmed it had intercepted several projectiles from Lebanon, with one hitting near the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona.
Hezbollah also said its forces attacked Israeli troops trying to advance near the medieval Beaufort fortress, also known as Qalaat al-Chakif, a site Israel’s forces had used as a base during their two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon ending in 2000.
US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said Rubio had “commended President Aoun’s courage and vision in pursuing direct negotiations with Israel” despite Hezbollah’s opposition, adding that the group was “entirely responsible for the ongoing fighting.”
Lebanon’s military delegation to Friday’s talks included six officers, headed by the Lebanese army director of operations Georges Rizkallah.
On the Israeli side, Brigadier General Amichai Levin, head of the strategic division of the army’s planning directorate, visited Washington for the talks, an Israeli military spokesman said.
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