Israeli strike shakes Beirut suburbs after US says it opposes number of airstrikes Reuters

Written by Laila Bassam and Humeyra Pamuk

BEIRUT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An Israeli strike hit areas south of Beirut on Wednesday morning, Reuters witnesses said, hours after the United States said it opposed Israel's attack on the city as the death toll mounted and fears of an escalation involving Iran. .

Reuters witnesses heard the explosion and saw smoke billowing. This came after the order of the Israeli army to evacuate the building in the area.

Israeli military evacuation orders also affected more than a quarter of Lebanon, according to the UN refugee agency, two weeks after Israel began a push into the south of the country it says aims to push back Hezbollah.

The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Najib Mikati, said on Tuesday that his communication with American officials had produced “a kind of assurance” that Israel would end the strikes in and around Beirut.

The last time Beirut was hit was Oct. 10, where two strikes near the city center killed 22 people and demolished all the buildings in the densely populated area.

Lebanese security sources said at the time that Hezbollah chief Wafiq Safa was the victim but survived. There was no comment from Israel.

Some Western countries have been calling for an end to the fighting between the two neighbors, as well as in Gaza, although the United States says it continues to support Israel and has been sending anti-missile and military forces.

On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States had expressed its concerns to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration about the recent strikes.

“When it comes to the scale and nature of the bombing campaign that we have seen in Beirut in the past few weeks, it is something that we have made clear to the Israeli government that we had problems with and that we were against,” he told the media. adopting a tougher tone than Washington has taken so far.

Israel has been targeting Hezbollah since it first entered Lebanon after killing Hezbollah leaders and commanders, including its veteran secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah last month in the group's biggest attack in decades.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron during a telephone conversation that he was against ending the war and said he was “shocked” by Macron's plan to hold a summit in Lebanon, according to an Israeli study.

“A reminder to the French President: It was not the UN resolution that established the State of Israel but the victory achieved in the War of Independence…,” Netanyahu's office said in a separate statement.

The Elysee Palace did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The two have clashed in the past, including over Macron's call for an end to arms sales to Israel.

PAIN AND ELIMINATION OF FIRE

As diplomatic efforts have stalled, the fighting continues.

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had captured three members of Radwan's elite Hezbollah group and taken them to Israel for questioning. Hezbollah did not comment.

Its deputy chief Naim Qassem said on Tuesday that the Iran-backed group would bring “pain” to Israel but also called for a ceasefire.

“After the ceasefire, according to an indirect agreement, the settlers will return to the north and other measures will be planned,” Qassem said in a recorded speech.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which says its operation in Lebanon is aimed at protecting tens of thousands of civilians who have been forced to flee their homes in northern Israel due to Hezbollah attacks.

Two drones were detected crossing into Israel from Lebanon following sirens that sounded in the Upper Galilee, the Israeli military said early Wednesday, adding that no injuries were reported.

Israeli strikes killed at least 2,350 people last year and left nearly 11,000 injured, according to Lebanon's health ministry, and more than 1.2 million people were displaced.

The number of taxpayers does not distinguish between civilians and soldiers but includes hundreds of women and children.

The figures underscore the heavy toll Israel is paying as Israel tries to destroy the infrastructure of the Iran-backed militant group in its war, which resumed last year when it began firing rockets into Israel in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war.

The main focus of the Israeli army in Lebanon was in the Bekaa Valley in the east, in the suburbs of Beirut and in the south, where the UN peacekeepers said that the Israeli fire hit their bases several times and wounded the peacekeepers.