Israel continues strikes on Lebanon before cease-fire deal
Israeli warplanes struck central Beirut and the city’s southern suburbs on Tuesday hours before a planned vote by the Israeli regime on whether to accept a cease-fire aimed at ending more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah.
The Israeli military issued a flurry of evacuation warnings and the occupation troops also reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River for the first time in the conflict.
The evacuation warnings covered many areas, including parts of Beirut that have not been targeted throughout the war. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks in the final hours before a cease-fire is reached.
At least seven people were killed in Israeli attacks on a Beirut building housing displaced people.
“The Israeli enemy … seeks revenge on supporters of the resistance and on all Lebanese”, Lebanese lawmaker Amin Sherri said.
The cease-fire deal calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border. Thousands of Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides’ compliance.
“There is not an excuse for not implementing a cease-fire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart,” The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell told reporters in Italy on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting. He said France would participate on the cease-fire implementation committee at Lebanon’s request.