Photo: Nidal Solh Agence France-Presse Israel stepped up its bombing raids on the strongholds of the Shiite movement in Lebanon on Wednesday, targeting the eastern city of Baalbeck.
Laure Al Khoury – Agence France-Presse in Beirut
Published yesterday at 10:38 Updated yesterday at 17:53
- Middle East
The new leader of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, affirmed on Wednesday that the Lebanese Islamist movement could continue to fight Israel despite the blows it has received, while saying it was ready for a ceasefire “under conditions.”
Israel, at war since September against Hezbollah, increased its bombings on Wednesday on the strongholds of the Shiite movement in Lebanon, which targeted the city of Baalbeck, in the east, and the south of the country.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, eleven people died in Israeli air raids in the village of Sohmor (east), and 19 others, including eight women, in Israeli strikes in the Baalbeck region (east).
A strike near Nabatiyeh (south) killed, according to the Israeli army, the number two of the al-Radwan unit, Hezbollah's elite force, Mustafa Ahmad Chehadé, after the death of several other officials, including the leader of the movement, Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel on September 27.
In his first speech since his appointment on Tuesday, Naim Qassem pledged to continue “the war plan” prepared by his predecessor and affirmed that Hezbollah had “begun to recover” after the “painful blows” dealt by Israel.
He added that his Iran-backed group was fighting “on behalf of no one” and could continue the war “for months,” while saying he was ready for a ceasefire with Israel “under conditions,” but said no serious plan was yet on the table.
Israel’s demands include Hezbollah’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, the deployment of the Lebanese army along the Israeli border and an international mechanism to enforce the truce, according to Channel 12 television.
Hezbollah has vowed to fight until the end of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip against its ally Hamas.
According to the State Department, senior U.S. officials are traveling to Israel on Wednesday to try to obtain progress towards ending the wars in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
After a call with Mr. Hochstein “indicated” that a ceasefire might be possible before the American presidential election on November 5, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he hoped the war would end “in the hours or days” to come.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000Rockets
Since September 23, Israel has been increasing its air strikes against Hezbollah, in parallel with a ground offensive launched on September 30 in the south of the country.
It says it wants to neutralize the Lebanese movement in this border region to allow the return to the north of the country of 60,000 inhabitants displaced by rocket fire for more than a year. an.
In eastern Lebanon, residents of the thousand-year-old city of Baalbeck fled en masse on Wednesday after a call from the Israeli army to evacuate. According to the Lebanese National News Agency, a dozen localities were bombed in the south, while fighting raged in the Khiam sector, near the border.
Israel claimed to have targeted “fuel depots” supplying “Hezbollah military vehicles” in the east of the country and targeted the Lebanese movement's command centers in Baalbeck and Nabatiyeh.
For its part, the pro-Iranian movement said it had launched several attacks in northern Israel and fired rockets at a “special units training camp” southeast of Tel Aviv.
In Lebanon, more than 1,780 people have been killed since September 23, according to a AFP count based on official data.
Truce “of less than a month”
Israel is also continuing its strikes against Hamas in Gaza, at a time when the mediating countries are preparing to propose a truce “of less than a month,” providing for an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and an increase in humanitarian aid, according to a source close to the negotiations.
This proposal was the subject of discussions on Sunday and Monday in Doha between the head of Mossad (Israeli foreign intelligence), David Barnea, the director of the CIA, William Burns, and the Qatari prime minister.
A Hamas official said on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity, that the movement had not received an official proposal for a truce but that it would study any plan if it included an Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the army must continue to exert “military pressure” on Hamas to ensure the return of hostages held in Palestinian territory since the Islamist movement’s unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023.
Read also
- After more than a year of war in Gaza, Israel is short of soldiers
- Video | Interview | Harris or Trump ? The US election will have consequences in Ukraine and Gaza
“Many massacres”
The Israeli army has been concentrating its offensive mainly in northern Gaza since October 6.
The United States expressed frustration Wednesday after an Israeli strike the day before on a building in Beit Lahia left nearly 100 people dead, including children.
Israel said it was investigating but was “not doing enough to give us the answers we asked for,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned “the many massacres” in the north of the territory, according to his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
For its part, the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs called on Israeli authorities, which control the entry of aid, to “urgently authorize access for essential humanitarian activities.”
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has left 43,163 people dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas government's Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.
In Israel, the attack carried out on October 7, 2023 by Hamas resulted in the death of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data, including hostages killed or who died in captivity.
Of the 251 people kidnapped, 97 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army.