With south Lebanon still on edge after a brief quiet, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem is pressing for Israel to commit to a clear timetable to pull its troops out of the area, as Lebanese officials reported two people were killed by Israeli gunfire despite the recent lull in fighting.
As a fifth round of Israel-Lebanon talks got under way in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun reiterated his rejection of Israel’s continued presence in the south and pushed back against outside influence in Lebanese affairs — a reference to Hezbollah’s patron Iran.
Yesterday, mediators Pakistan and Qatar said Tehran and Washington had agreed to create a “de-confliction cell” aimed at preventing flare-ups in Lebanon. The announcement followed talks in Switzerland on ending the broader Middle East war — a conflict Tehran has tied to stopping the parallel fighting in Lebanon.
“We now have a ceasefire. The withdrawal must take place according to a timetable. Israel has no choice but to fully withdraw from all Lebanese territory, without retaining an inch,” Qassem said in a televised address.
Clashes between Israel and Hezbollah on Friday and Saturday had shaken the fragile US-Iran understanding, which calls for a cessation of hostilities across all fronts, including Lebanon.
Since Saturday evening, fighting in Lebanon has largely paused.
“Israel withdraws and the Lebanese army deploys exclusively south of the Litani River,” Qassem said, pointing to the waterway about 30 kilometres (some 20 miles) from the Israeli border.
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‘Treacherous attack’
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that two men were killed today after Israeli soldiers opened fire with machine-guns “while they were standing near an excavator that was unblocking a road” in Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
The health ministry later confirmed the deaths.
Hezbollah condemned the incident as a “blatant” breach of the truce and branded it a “treacherous attack”.
Israel’s military said its troops first fired warning shots at four alleged Hezbollah militants on a bulldozer and a motorcycle who had entered an Israeli-declared “security zone” extending around 10 kilometres (six miles) into Lebanon, before “additional fire was conducted in order to remove the threat”.
In a separate statement, it said its forces “identified a cell of armed terrorists operating” near soldiers in the zone and that it “struck the terrorists … to remove the threat”.
The NNA also said “an enemy drone targeted a parked car” on the outskirts of Baraasheet, without immediately reporting casualties.
Earlier today, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, said it had not observed any launches, strikes or interceptions “since Sunday, marking more than two days without such activity”.
‘Sovereignty’
Under US pressure, Lebanese officials began direct talks with Israel in April in Washington, while Lebanese authorities have sought to keep the negotiations separate from the US-Iran deal.
“We accept nothing less than an end to the Israeli occupation and at the same time, the fall of foreign tutelage,” Mr Aoun said, according to his office.
The Lebanese president has previously accused Iran of treating Lebanon as a “bargaining chip”.
He said he hoped the latest round of discussions would prove “decisive” in securing “the full restoration of Lebanon’s sovereignty”.
Mr Aoun’s office added that he spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, with both men discussing the situation “in light of the results of the US-Iran negotiations”.
Parliament speaker Nabih Berri — a Hezbollah ally who serves as an intermediary for the group — also spoke with Mr Macron, his office said, stressing “the importance of consolidating the ceasefire” and Israel’s withdrawal.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East on 2 March war with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes.
Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground offensive that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,100 people.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces in Lebanon retained “full freedom of action to thwart any direct or developing threat”.
