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BEIRUT – Escalating hostilities erupted on Friday between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants based in Lebanon, just days before planned talks between Israel and the Lebanese government. These discussions are scheduled to commence next week.
In a recent Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon, at least 13 members of Lebanon’s State Security forces lost their lives. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for an attack on a naval base in Ashdod, an Israeli port city approximately 90 miles from the border.
Israel conducted multiple strikes in various southern Lebanese towns, including a notable one on a government facility in Nabatieh, which resulted in the death of government security officials. In retaliation, Hezbollah reported 31 assaults on northern Israel and Israeli ground troops stationed in southern Lebanon.
This latest wave of Israeli airstrikes and ground invasion into southern Lebanon follows Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on northern Israel, which were launched in support of Iran, its principal ally, on March 2.
The Lebanese Health Ministry reports a death toll of at least 1,888 people due to Israeli strikes. A devastating blitz of 100 attacks in just 10 minutes on Wednesday claimed at least 303 lives, marking the conflict’s deadliest day, with strikes hitting densely populated residential and commercial areas in central Beirut. Rescue teams continue to search for those trapped under the debris in the capital.
Meanwhile, officials at Beirut’s main government-run hospital on the southern edge of the capital fear it could be in the line of fire after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for the surrounding suburbs, including the busy neighborhood of Jnah where the hospital is located. Israel has launched attacks in Jnah, both with and without warning.
The World Health Organization has since called for the Rafik Hariri University Hospital to be spared from attacks and not to evacuate, and WHO officials said Friday that they received assurances that it would not be struck. The hospital has not evacuated, though staff are fearful, as getting to work now requires them to drive on roads that can be struck at any time says Dr. Mohammad Cheaito, who heads the emergency department.
“The entire zone around the hospital was threatened and deemed dangerous,” he told the AP. “But at the end of the day, we have a humanitarian duty.”
Lebanon hopes for truce while Hezbollah supporters reject talks
Lebanon’s authorities have not yet commented on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Thursday of the decision to go ahead with talks. Netanyahu said the talks would revolve around disarming Hezbollah and establishing “peaceful relations” between the two countries.
A Lebanese official in government familiar with the developments said that a halt in the fighting is a critical condition for the country to engage in direct talks with Israel, similar to the one between the U.S. and Iran. It has yet to appoint a representative for negotiations. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had initially proposed the direct talks early on in the war on similar terms, at the time hoping for Israel to stop an escalation in airstrikes and to not invade the country. At the time, with only the backing of France, that failed.
On Wednesday, the U.S. and Iran announced a temporary ceasefire in the war that began on Feb. 28. It included Lebanon and other countries impacted in the wider regional conflict, mediator Pakistan announced. However, Israel — and later the United States — denied this. They want to separate the diplomatic tracks of the two wars.
Hezbollah considers Israel’s attacks on Lebanon to be a violation of the ceasefire, while Beirut, in a bid to disarm Hezbollah and assert its full sovereignty over the country, says it wants to be included in talks related to Lebanon.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Kassem in a statement broadcast Thursday did not directly mention the prospect of Israel-Lebanon talks, but called on the Lebanese government to “stop giving free concessions” to Israel.
Dozens of supporters of the Iran-backed group protested outside of the Lebanese prime minister’s office in central Beirut. They see the scheduled direct talks as a surrender to Israel, which says its troops will stay in the country indefinitely.
“Our blood has been spilled on this land, and our state is conspiring against us,” said protester Hassan Shuaib. “Our state wants to kill us; our state wants to strip us of our weapons.”
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Associated Press producer Malak Harb and video journalist Fadi Tawil in Beirut contributed to this report.
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