Two killed in Israeli strike in southern Lebanon during US-hosted talks
Lebanese state media reported a deadly drone strike near Kfar Reman as Israel and Lebanon held talks in Washington on ending the fighting.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
An Israeli drone strike killed at least two people in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency, underscoring the fragility of a renewed ceasefire while Israeli and Lebanese officials meet in Washington. The talks are aimed at ending fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, but positions on Israeli troops in Lebanon remain far apart.
The NNA said the drone attack hit a vehicle on the Tallat al-Dabsha road near Kfar Reman in the Nabatieh district. The agency also reported that Israeli artillery later struck the outskirts of Yater, in the Bint Jbeil area.
Israel’s military said Wednesday it had targeted Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon. Al Jazeera reported that the latest attacks followed a recent easing in fighting after the United States and Iran called for a ceasefire.
Ceasefire under strain
Al Jazeera described the strikes as the latest breach of a renewed ceasefire reached last week after a US-Iran agreement intended to help end the broader Middle East war. The report said Israeli and Lebanese officials were in the United States for another round of negotiations as the violence continued.
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett, reporting from Tyre in southern Lebanon, said Israeli operations had slowed but had not stopped. She said the activity was more limited than the violence seen over the weekend.
Many residents displaced from southern Lebanon have gone back despite the threat of further strikes, Pett reported. In Abbasiyeh, near Tyre, the local mayor said 80 percent of residents had returned in recent days, according to Al Jazeera.
Pett said Abbasiyeh has water, electricity and local medical services, conditions she said are absent in many other towns and villages in the area.
Dispute over Israeli withdrawal
Lebanese politicians have said Israeli forces must leave Lebanese territory and Israel must halt attacks for the ceasefire to last, according to Al Jazeera. Israel has said it will withdraw only after Hezbollah is fully disarmed.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz told The Times of Israel on Wednesday that the military would not pull out of Lebanon “even if there is an American demand”. Referring to people forcibly displaced from southern Lebanon, Katz said “200,000 residents will not return”.
Katz said Israel would not permit conditions that could expose Israeli soldiers to roadside bombs and attacks. “We are not withdrawing,” he said, according to The Times of Israel.
Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, said the latest round of talks was expected to include military-to-military discussions. She said one proposal could allow Lebanese forces to replace Israeli forces if the United States vets them and finds they have no links to Hezbollah.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told a visiting British delegation Wednesday that Lebanon’s government would send the Lebanese army to the south after an Israeli withdrawal, according to Al Jazeera. Aoun said reconstruction of damaged areas would follow, and that the Lebanon-Israel talks in Washington are separate from US-Iran negotiations.
Hezbollah has rejected the US-hosted Lebanon-Israel talks and called for Israeli forces to withdraw fully from Lebanon first, Al Jazeera reported.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.