Israel raids southern Lebanon and Beirut on the outskirts, killing five medics By Reuters
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Israeli troops raided southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday, killing at least five doctors, as ground forces clashed with Hezbollah fighters in the south.
Israel has continued its intense military campaign against the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, hoping that the US embassy’s efforts will lead to an imminent ceasefire.
US negotiator Amos Hochstein said this week in Beirut that the deal was “within our power”. He went to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, Axios said.
His trip was aimed at ending more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border, which escalated when Israel stepped up its strikes in late September and sent ground troops into Lebanon in Oct. 1.
Israeli forces have been fighting Hezbollah in a stretch of border towns and this week advanced to the outskirts of Khiyam, a town about six kilometers (four miles) from the border.
Hezbollah said it fired rockets at Israeli soldiers east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday. Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli forces had also advanced through a series of villages to the west. They said Israel was probably trying to isolate Khiyam before attacking the city.
Four Italian soldiers were slightly injured after two rockets exploded at a UNIFIL peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon, a UNIFIL spokesman said on Friday.
Italian sources said the investigation was ongoing. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told Italian media that Hezbollah may be responsible for the attack.
Israeli strikes in two other villages in southern Lebanon have killed five health workers from the Hezbollah-affiliated rescue force, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said.
More than 3,500 people were killed in Israeli strikes last year, including more than 200 health workers, the Ministry of Health said.
EXIT AND STRIKES WARNINGS
Israel says its aim is to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people displaced from northern Israel by rocket attacks from Hezbollah, which began firing across the border in support of Hamas at the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
Israel also struck areas south of Beirut, Hezbollah’s most populous base.
Abeer Darwich, a resident of a building that was hit in a neighborhood south of Beirut on Friday, had to leave his house immediately after an evacuation warning from the Israeli army.
He stands and watches as an Israeli strike smashes a tall building into dust.
“Do you know that most of the apartment owners took out a loan to buy those houses? Life savings are gone, memories and security … Israel decided to steal from us,” said Darwich.
Evacuation orders were issued for several buildings in the area on Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to go through the middle of a multi-storey building, engulfed in a cloud of smoke.
