Israel strikes Beirut for the first time since the ceasefire

Officials in Lebanon say Israeli attacks have killed at least six people, despite ceasefire agreements.

BEIRUT - Israel struck Beirut on Wednesday for the first time since agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah last month, with Israel saying it targeted a commander of the militant group’s elite Radwan force in the city’s southern suburbs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz announced the action in a joint statement. Israeli media reported that the commander was killed in the strike, but there was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli military or Hezbollah.

The Lebanon ceasefire has underpinned a broader U.S.-Iran truce, with a halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon being a key Iranian demand.

As Iran and the U.S. say they are drawing closer to a deal to halt their conflict, the strikes threaten the ceasefire that halted Israeli attacks on Beirut. Israeli troops have remained in areas south of the Litani River and strikes continued in southern Lebanon.

Iran ally Hezbollah has responded by firing and launching armed drones towards Israeli soldiers.

Israel earlier on 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 on 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 on Wednesday, said shoring up a ceasefire 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 Shi’ite Muslim group and its Lebanese opponents.

Announcing a three-week extension of the ceasefire 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.

Salam said Lebanon was not seeking “normalization with Israel, but rather achieving peace”.

“Our minimum demand is a timetable for Israel’s withdrawal,” he said, adding that the government would develop its plan to restrict weapons to state control - an effort aimed at securing Hezbollah’s disarmament.

Aoun said this week the timing was not right for a meeting with Netanyahu. Lebanon “must first reach a security agreement and a halt to the Israeli attacks, before we raise the issue of a meeting between us,” he said.

Trading blows

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

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on 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 towards 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.

Laila Bassam, Ahmed Elimam and Tala Ramadan, Reuters