2 killed in strikes on Lebanon, Netanyahu vows to retaliate after both sides cite truce violations
At least two people were killed on Monday in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, Lebanese authorities said, as a ceasefire ending more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah appeared increasingly fragile.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel would respond “strongly” after the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, citing repeated Israeli ceasefire violations, carried out a strike on an Israeli military position.
The truce, which came into effect early on Nov. 27, stipulates that Israel will not carry out offensive military operations against civilian, military or other state targets in Lebanon, while Lebanon will prevent any armed groups, including Hezbollah, from carrying out operations against Israel.
Lebanon and Israel have already traded accusations of breaches, and on Monday, Lebanon said the violations had turned deadly.
One person was killed in an Israeli air attack on the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, about 10 kilometres from the border with Israel, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
Lebanon’s state security said an Israeli drone strike had killed a member of its force while he was on duty in Nabatieh, 12 km from the border. State security called it a “flagrant violation” of the truce.
The Lebanese army said an Israeli drone hit an army bulldozer in northeast Lebanon near the border with Syria, wounding one soldier.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions from Reuters about the incidents in Marjayoun and Nabatieh. It issued a statement saying it had attacked military vehicles operating near Hezbollah military infrastructure in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and military vehicles near the border with Syria.
The Israeli military acknowledged that a Lebanese soldier was wounded in one of its attacks and said the incident was under review.
At least 54 Israeli truce violations so far: Lebanon
Lebanon’s parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah and Beirut’s main interlocutor in the ceasefire talks, said Lebanon had logged at least 54 Israeli violations so far.
In a statement issued by his office, Berri urged the committee tasked with monitoring the ceasefire to “urgently” begin work and to “oblige” Israel to halt its violations and withdraw troops from Lebanese land.
The ceasefire deal stipulates that a monitoring mechanism hosted by the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and chaired by the United States would “monitor, verify and assist in ensuring enforcement” of the ceasefire.
“The aggressive actions carried out by the Israeli occupation forces constitute a flagrant violation of the terms of the ceasefire agreement,” Berri said.
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah appears to be holding in Lebanon, bringing some calm to the region, after more than a year of fighting. It’s also allowed thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians to flee for home, despite warnings from the Israeli military to hold off.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denied his country had breached the accord, saying the problem lay with Hezbollah moving weapons and crossing south of the Litani River, in defiance of last week’s deal.
“Israel is committed to the successful implementation of the ceasefire, but we will not accept a return to the situation as it stood on October 6, 2023. If violations occur, Israel will enforce [the pact],” he said in a statement.
Public broadcaster Kan and other Israeli media outlets reported on Monday that U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who brokered the ceasefire after weeks of shuttle diplomacy, had warned Israel against alleged violations.
Published at Fri, 26 Jan 2024 09:01:20 +0000
Iran-backed militia fighters enter Syria to help government forces fight off rebels
Hundreds of fighters from Iran-backed Iraqi militias crossed into Syria overnight to help the government fight rebels who seized Aleppo last week, Syrian and Iraqi sources said on Monday, and Tehran pledged to aid the Damascus government.
Iran’s constellation of allied regional militia groups has long been integral to the success of pro-government forces in subduing rebels who rose up against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011, and they have long maintained bases in Syria. At least 300 fighters crossed late on Sunday using a dirt road to avoid the official border crossing, two Iraqi security sources said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who visited Damascus, said on Monday Syria’s military was capable of confronting the rebels but, referring to the regional militia groups Tehran backs, he added that “resistance groups will help and Iran will provide any support needed.”
Syrian government and Russian warplanes intensified attacks on Monday in areas held by rebels in the northwest, residents and rescue workers said, including a strike on a displaced people’s camp that killed seven.
The Syrian government said Syrian and Russian air forces were striking rebel-held positions in the countryside east of Aleppo city.
The White Helmets rescue organization and residents of rebel-held areas in the north said warplanes had hit residential areas of Aleppo city and a displaced people’s camp in Idlib province where seven people were killed, including five children.
The government said the military was working to secure towns it recaptured from rebels on Sunday that run along the front line north of Hama, a city lying between Aleppo and the capital Damascus. Rebel shelling of Hama killed three people on Monday, state television said.
Rebels seek political dialogue
The lightning rebel assault last week caught many in the region unaware, dealing Assad his biggest blow in years and reigniting a conflict that had appeared frozen for years after civil war front lines stabilized in 2020.
Although Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022, it retains an airbase in northern Syria. The main Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, has been focused on its own war with Israel since the Gaza conflict began last year.
A Russian airstrike at the Aleppo University Hospital in Syria killed at least 12 people and injured more than 20 others. The bombardment, in support of Syrian government forces, followed insurgents seizing control of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.
Syria’s conflict erupted in a rebellion against Assad’s rule in 2011 and the rebels held much of Aleppo from 2012 until 2016, when government forces retook it with help from Russia and Iran-backed militia in a major turning point of the war. Any prolonged escalation in Syria risks further destabilizing a region already roiled by the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon, with millions of Syrians already displaced and with regional and global powers backing rival forces in the country.
The rebels include mainstream groups backed by Turkey, as well as the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda. Turkey also has a military presence in a strip of Syrian territory along its border.
Kurdish-led forces that Ankara calls terrorists, but which fought Islamic State militants with U.S. help, hold territory in the northeast.
The Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers met on Monday and discussed the fighting in Syria. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said rebel advances could not be explained by foreign intervention and urged the Syrian opposition to compromise.
Russia, whose 2015 entry into the conflict turned the military balance decisively in Assad’s favour continues to support the Syrian president and is analyzing the situation on the ground, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. On Sunday, Moscow dismissed the general in charge of its forces in Syria, Russian war bloggers reported.
In Turkey, Syrian opposition leader Hadi al-Bahra said the rebels sought to force the Syrian government to accept a political transition.
“We are ready to start negotiating tomorrow,” Bahra told a news conference.
Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency said the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army had taken the town of Tel Rifaat from the Kurdish YPG militia and was continuing to advance in outer areas of the district.
Rebel sources and an Aleppo resident said the Kurdish YPG group was pulling out of the city’s Sheikh Maqsoud district under a deal with rebel forces. The YPG had long held the Kurdish-majority neighbourhood in Aleppo.
Published at Mon, 02 Dec 2024 10:12:50 +0000