US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday met Israel’s prime minister to push for a ceasefire in Gaza after the US called for an end to the war in Lebanon “as soon as possible.”
It was his 11th trip to the Middle East since Hamas’ attack on Israel more than a year ago triggered the Gaza war, and his first since Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah escalated late last month.
His meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials came as Israel weighs its response to Iran’s Oct. 1 missile attack.
Photo: AFP
In Lebanon, Israel hit an area of south Beirut housing the nation’s largest public health facility, killing 13 people, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The Rafic Hariri Hospital, located outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds, sustained minor damage in the strike which flattened four nearby buildings.
Previous US efforts to end the Gaza war and contain the regional fallout have failed, as did a bid spearheaded by US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron to secure a temporary ceasefire in Lebanon.
After Israel, Blinken is to visit Jordan today and discuss humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip, an official on the plane with him said.
Blinken also plans to speak to Israeli leaders about the expected strike on Iran and discourage any move that could massively escalate regional conflict, the official said.
US envoy to Lebanon Amos Hochstein on Monday said his administration was seeking an end to the war “as soon as possible,” as he pushed for a ceasefire based on a UN resolution that ended an earlier Israel-Hezbollah war.
Under UN Resolution 1701, Hezbollah should have withdrawn from areas in south Lebanon near the Israeli border, leaving only the nation’s weak military and UN peacekeepers deployed there, but Hezbollah remained south of Lebanon’s Litani River and in October last year began launching low-intensity cross-border strikes into Israel, in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
After nearly a year of war in Gaza, Israel shifted its focus to Lebanon, vowing to secure its northern border to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by the cross-border fire to return to their homes.
Israel ramped up its airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds around the nation and sent in ground troops late last month, in a war that has killed at least 1,489 people since Sept. 23, according to a tally of health ministry figures.
The strike on Monday night came as Israel targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs with heavy fire after issuing evacuation warnings for multiple districts.
Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif confirmed that the group carried out a drone attack targeting the Israeli prime minister’s home last week, and acknowledged that some of its fighters had been captured by the Israeli army.
Netanyahu on Saturday accused Hezbollah of attempting to assassinate him and his wife after a drone was launched toward his residence in the central town of Caesarea.
A Lebanese security official said that the nation’s national airline had to switch landing strips after Israeli strikes near Beirut’s only international airport hit close to the main runway.
In the heavily bombarded south, the Lebanese Red Cross said an Israeli strike wounded three of its paramedics in the city of Nabatiyeh who were responding to reports of casualties from an earlier strike.
State media reported Israeli airstrikes near the coastal city of Tyre.
Hezbollah said it launched rockets at two positions in the suburbs of Israel’s commercial hub Tel Aviv and a naval base near the northern city of Haifa.
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