Israeli military strikes have resulted in the deaths of at least 18 individuals across southern Lebanon. Lebanese authorities report that the overall death toll from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which began last month, has now exceeded 2,000.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Lebanon\u2019s Health Ministry confirmed that Israeli strikes on a village near Sidon in southern Lebanon killed at least eight people and wounded nine others. Earlier reports from the ministry indicated that at least 10 people, including three emergency workers, had been killed in Israeli strikes within the Nabatieh district.<\/p>\n
The Health Ministry\u2019s latest figures show that at least 2,020 people have been killed and 6,436 others wounded since Lebanon became embroiled in the US-Israel war on Iran on March 2. The conflict escalated after Hezbollah launched rocket fire at Israel, reportedly in support of Iran, leading to extensive Israeli strikes and a ground invasion.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that two Israeli soldiers sustained injuries during clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Saturday. Israel\u2019s Channel 13, citing military sources, stated that the two soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade suffered moderate shrapnel wounds during the confrontation.<\/p>\n
The surge in violence coincides with Iran-backed Hezbollah reiterating its rejection of direct negotiations between Israel and Lebanon aimed at ending the war. Despite this, President Joseph Aoun\u2019s office announced on Friday that officials from Lebanon, Israel, and the United States are scheduled to meet next week in Washington to discuss a potential ceasefire declaration and the commencement of negotiations under US auspices.<\/p>\n
In Beirut, hundreds gathered near the government headquarters on Saturday to express support for Hezbollah and protest against any talks with Israel. Some demonstrators waved Hezbollah\u2019s yellow flags or the Iranian standard. Ruqaya Msheik, a demonstrator, articulated the protest\u2019s message, stating that Lebanon \u201cwill not be Israeli\u201d and that \u201cWhoever wants peace with Israel is not Lebanese\u2026 Those who shake hands with the enemy \u2026 are Zionists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Movement, issued a joint statement urging supporters to avoid demonstrations \u201cat this delicate stage,\u201d emphasizing the importance of \u201cstability, the protection of civil peace and avoiding any division that the Israeli enemy seeks.\u201d Earlier, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah condemned the decision to hold direct talks with Israel as \u201ca blatant violation of the [national] pact, the constitution and Lebanese laws.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that any peace agreement reached with Lebanon must \u201clast for generations\u201d and include Hezbollah\u2019s disarmament. A recent ceasefire announcement between the US and Iran this week has led to disagreements between Washington and Tehran over whether it also extends to Israel\u2019s bombardment and invasion of Lebanon. This dispute emerged during historic in-person ceasefire talks held in Islamabad, Pakistan, between the US and Iran on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s Ali Hashem, reporting from Tehran, indicated that Iran managed to secure \u201ca kind of guarantee from the US that Israel is going to decrease its attacks on Lebanon.\u201d However, he noted that \u201cnothing [has] been confirmed \u2026 from Israel, with respect to Lebanon.\u201d While there have been \u201cfewer attacks on Beirut and the southern suburbs,\u201d no official ceasefire announcement has been made regarding Lebanon.<\/p>\n
#Lebanon #Israel #Hezbollah #MiddleEastConflict #RegionalTensions #CeasefireTalks #HumanitarianCrisis #USDiplomacy #Iran #WarInLebanon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israeli military strikes have resulted in the deaths of at least 18 individuals across southern Lebanon. Lebanese authorities report that the overall death toll from the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which began last month, has now exceeded 2,000. On Saturday, Lebanon\u2019s Health Ministry confirmed that Israeli strikes on a village […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}