BEIRUT/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli military carried out at least five airstrikes on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Tuesday, after Israel’s defence minister ruled out any ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel’s goals had been met.
Smoke rose over Beirut as blasts shook the capital around mid-morning. The explosions followed an Israeli military warning posted on social media identifying 12 sites in the southern suburbs and saying it would take action against them soon. It warned residents they were located near Hezbollah facilities.
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the latest strikes. Residents have largely fled the southern suburbs since Israel began bombing the area in September.
In Israel, air raid sirens sounded in parts of the north, sending residents running for shelter, and the military said a number of “suspicious aerial targets” were launched from Lebanon. There were no reports of injuries.
Ignited by the Gaza war, the conflict at the Lebanese-Israeli border had been rumbling on for a year before Israel went on the offensive in September, pounding wide areas of Lebanon with airstrikes and sending troops into the south.
Israel has dealt heavy blows to Hezbollah over the last seven weeks, killing many of its top leaders including Hassan Nasrallah, flattening parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, and causing vast destruction in border villages in south Lebanon.
Meeting with Israel’s general staff for the first time, Israel’s newly appointed Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday there would be no ceasefire in Lebanon until Israel achieves its goals.
“Israel will not agree to any arrangement that does not guarantee Israel’s right to enforce and prevent terrorism on its own, and meet the goals of the war in Lebanon – disarming Hezbollah and its withdrawal beyond the Litani River and returning the residents of the north safely to their homes.”
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar had said earlier on Monday there had been “a certain progress” in ceasefire talks, whilst adding the war against Hezbollah was not yet over.
The main challenge facing any ceasefire deal would be enforcement, he said.
Hezbollah has said it is ready for a long war against Israel and has kept up rocket fire.
SOUTH OF THE LITANI
The Lebanese government, which includes Hezbollah, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire based on the full implementation of a U.N. Resolution that ended a war between the group and Israel in 2006.
The resolution calls for the area south of the Litani to be free of all weapons other than those of the Lebanese state. Lebanon and Israel have accused each other of violating the resolution.
Israel’s offensive has driven more than 1 million people from their homes in Lebanon in the last seven weeks. Since hostilities erupted a year ago, Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed 3,243 people and injured 14,134, the Lebanese health ministry said. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Hezbollah attacks have killed roughly 100 civilians and soldiers in northern Israel, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and southern Lebanon over the last year.
(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Riham Alkoussa in Beirut, Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Tala Ramadan in Dubai; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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