Israel launched multiple ceasefires in southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh governate, killing at least four people, despite the announcement of a peace deal between the United States and Iran to end hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that separate drone attacks targeted two vehicles in Mayfadoun on Tuesday, while another attack targeted a vehicle in the village of Shoukin.
Iran had repeatedly maintained that any ceasefire arrangement would need to include an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) would continue to occupy southern Lebanon soon after the peace deal was announced.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Tuesday that “without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the war has not fully come to an end”.
Iran’s Top Joint Military Command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, also warned that Iranian armed forces would give a hard response if Israel did not stop its onslaught on southern Lebanon.
Tehran’s top negotiatior and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf spoke to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and called for Washington to urge Tel Aviv to end its war on Lebanon, stop home demolitions, and withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory.
Reuters news agency reported that Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it received assurances from Tehran that it would demand a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon in the next round of talks with the United States.
Meanwhile, anti-Israeli sentiment is at an all-time high in Lebanon, with Nabatieh residents speaking to Al Jazeera, lamenting the long-standing conflict.
“This is a decades-old conflict with Israel … an enemy that can’t be trusted … and we can never feel safe,” said Mohammed Nasser.
Another resident Hussein Badreddine told the outlet, “The Israeli army is trying to occupy positions that it once held during their occupation of southern Lebanon in the 1990s, but the resistance is preventing them from doing so.”
Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that since the resumption of fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in March, at least 3,826 people have been killed in the country and 11,851 injured.
