1st Israeli strike on Beirut since truce kills top Hezbollah member

Israel claimed Thursday it had killed a commander from Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in an airstrike on Beirut a day earlier, marking the first Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital since a cease-fire was reached last month.

The Israeli military said the commander was killed when Israel struck the southern suburbs of Beirut. There was no immediate ⁠confirmation from Hezbollah.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ⁠Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the attack in a joint statement Wednesday.

The strike has raised pressure on the cease-fire that had halted Israeli attacks on Beirut, even as Israeli forces have remained deployed in areas south of the Litani River and continued to ⁠carry out strikes in southern Lebanon.

Iran-allied Hezbollah has responded to those strikes by firing and launching armed drones toward Israeli soldiers.

The Lebanon cease-fire has underpinned a broader truce in the wider Iran war, with a halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon being a key Iranian demand in Tehran’s negotiations with Washington.

Israel earlier Wednesday called for residents to evacuate several villages north of the Litani River, which could represent an expansion of Israel’s zone of action.

Talks between Israel and Lebanon have continued, but have largely been at the ambassador level.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Wednesday that it was premature to talk of any high-level meeting between Lebanon and Israel.

High-level meetings premature

Salam, in comments reported ⁠by ⁠Lebanon’s National News Agency Wednesday, said shoring up a cease-fire would be the basis for any new negotiations between Lebanese and Israeli government envoys in Washington.

Washington last month hosted two meetings between the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States. Hezbollah strongly objects to the contacts.

Since Hezbollah triggered the war by opening fire in support of Iran on March 2, the Lebanese administration led by Salam and President Joseph Aoun has initiated Beirut’s highest-level contacts with Israel in decades, reflecting deep divisions between the Shiite Muslim group and its Lebanese opponents.

Announcing a three-week extension of the Lebanon-Israel cease-fire on ⁠April 23, U.S. President Donald Trump said he looked forward to hosting Netanyahu and Aoun in the near future and that he saw “a great chance” the countries would reach a peace deal this year.

Trading blows

Israel has carved out a self-declared security zone extending as deep as 10 kilometers (6 miles) into southern Lebanon, saying it aims to protect northern Israel from Hezbollah members embedded in civilian areas.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Wednesday an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including two women and an elderly man, in the town of Zelaya in ⁠southern Lebanon.

The ‌Israeli military ‌said Hezbollah had launched explosive drones and rockets toward Israeli soldiers in ⁠southern Lebanon, injuring two Israeli soldiers.

It also said the Israeli air ‌force intercepted a hostile aircraft before it crossed into Israel, and announced strikes on Hezbollah infrastructure in several areas in Lebanon.

More than 2,700 people have been killed ⁠in the war in Lebanon since March 2, the Health Ministry says.

The Israeli ⁠military says Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel since March 2. Israel ⁠has announced 17 soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon, along with two civilians in northern Israel.

DAILYSABAH