BEIRUT, Lebanon: Israel launched a wave of air strikes on Beirut and south Lebanon on Saturday, a day after Lebanese government officials said they were studying a US truce proposal.
An Israeli strike on neighbouring Syria earlier this week killed two leaders from Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group which has fought alongside Hamas in Gaza, AFP reported citing a source.
On Friday, Iran said it backed a swift end to the nearly two-month war in Lebanon.
Since September 23, Israel has escalated its bombing of Lebanon, later sending in ground troops after almost a year of limited, cross-border exchanges of fire with Hezbollah.
On Saturday, Israel launched fresh strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut, following calls from the Israeli army for residents to evacuate.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said “the enemy” carried out three air raids in the morning, later reporting another attack in the neighbourhood of Chiyah.
The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted “a weapons storage facility” and a Hezbollah “command centre” in south Beirut.
NNA also reported a strike on the southern city of Tyre, in a neighbourhood near UNESCO-listed ancient ruins.
Elsewhere in south Lebanon, the health ministry said Israeli strikes killed two rescuers affiliated with Hezbollah and its ally Amal.
Hezbollah claimed several rocket attacks on northern Israel, targeting military sites including a naval base in the Haifa area.
Lebanese authorities say that more than 3,440 people have been killed since October last year, when Hezbollah and Israel began trading fire.
In Gaza, the Israeli military said its forces continued “operational activity” in the northern areas of Jabalia and Beit Lahia, the targets of an intense offensive since early October.
Troops also operated in the southern district of Rafah, the army said.
Israel says its renewed operations in the ravaged north were meant to stop Hamas from regrouping.
A UN-backed assessment at the weekend warned famine was imminent in northern Gaza, and UN figures showed the Israeli operation had forced at least 100,000 people to flee.
A Human Rights Watch report this week stated that Israel’s displacement of Gazans amounts to a “crime against humanity”, as well as findings from a UN Special Committee pointed to warfare practices that “are consistent with the characteristics of genocide”.
Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman dismissed the HRW report as “completely false”, while the United States — Israel’s main military backer — said accusations of genocide “are certainly unfounded”.
The Gaza health ministry said at least 35 people were killed in the territory in the previous 24 hours, taking the overall death toll in more than 13 months of war to 43,799.
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The majority of the dead were civilians, according to ministry figures which the United Nations considers reliable.
As diplomacy aimed at ending the Gaza war has stalled, a top government official in Beirut said on Friday that US ambassador Lisa Johnson had presented a 13-point proposal to halt the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
It includes a 60-day truce, during which Lebanon will deploy troops to the border. The official added that Israel has yet to respond to the plan.
A second Lebanese official, similarly requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said he was “optimistic” about the talks.
A senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Lebanese officials in Beirut on Friday, saying Tehran was “looking for solutions”. – AFP
