Funerals for Lebanese officers killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon will be held during a surprise visit to Pakistan by Beirut’s army chief amid ongoing mediation efforts in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Lebanese soldiers will be buried on Sunday, a day after a brigadier general, a captain and a soldier were killed in an Israeli attack on the Kardali-Nabatie road, which the Israeli military said was investigating.
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A ceasefire agreed to on April 17 was meant to stop fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, but Israel has continued to carry out almost daily attacks, prompting retaliation from the Lebanese group. The violence has disproportionately affected Lebanese civilians, with more than 3,500 people killed since hostilities resumed on March 2.
Last week in Washington, the Lebanese and Israeli envoys announced a further conditional ceasefire, which Hezbollah rejected because it did not include the group or stipulate an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.
Rodolphe Haikal, commander of the Lebanese Army, left the country on the 18th for Pakistan, which has emerged as a central mediator between the United States and Iran.
The visit is notable given the insistence of Washington and Lebanese leaders, including the president, that ceasefire talks in Lebanon remain separate from the US-Iran deal brokered by Pakistan.
Fighting continues in southern Lebanon
Meanwhile, Israeli attacks hit several villages across southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa overnight, with Hezbollah saying it had launched rockets, artillery fire and drone strikes against Israeli forces, including near Beaufort Castle in Yomor al-Shaqif.
Lebanon’s Public Health Ministry said on Sunday that at least two people were killed in an Israeli raid on the village of Saxakiye a day earlier. The ministry added that 22 people, including three children and one woman, were injured in the attack.
Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that two other people were wounded in an Israeli drone strike on the village of Shahabiye.
Israeli airstrikes hit the village of Qalawiya at dawn and also hit the villages of al-Qatrani, Byblos and Rihan in the Jezzine region overnight. The town of Deir Kifa in Tire region was also bombed, while Barashit and Chaqra in the same region were also shelled intermittently throughout the night.
The NNA also reported shelling in the villages of al-Mansouri and Bayt al-Sayyad in Tire region.
Israeli warplanes attack the village of Srifa. Local media also reported that Israeli warplanes attacked Dweir, near Nabateye, north of the Litani River.
Meanwhile, paramedics continue to search for survivors in the rubble following the Israeli attack.
“This pattern is part of the Gazaization of Lebanon, or Israel’s use of actions normalized by the Gaza genocide,” Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh reported from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
“Like Gaza, they targeted schools in southern Lebanon. Like Gaza, they bombed Lebanese hospitals and clinics. They killed journalists. Then there are the so-called double wiretapping attacks targeting paramedics and rescue workers. Hundreds of Palestinian and Lebanese paramedics have died in these illegal acts.”
Gazaization extends to a ceasefire, she added.
“The ‘yellow line’, first introduced in Gaza, has now swallowed 60 percent of the country. In Lebanon, the ‘yellow line’ now covers almost a fifth of the country. Both invisible lines continue to expand,” Odeh said.
Lebanese lawmaker says there is no choice but negotiation
Meanwhile, Najat Aoun Saliba, an independent member of the Lebanese parliament, condemned Israel’s killing of a Lebanese soldier and said President Joseph Aoun had no choice but to enter into negotiations with Israel.
“If we don’t negotiate, what is the alternative? Is the alternative war? War will not give us peace,” she told Al Jazeera.
Saliba said dialogue was the only viable path given the power imbalance between Israel and the Lebanese military.
“The balance of power between the armies is unparalleled. Israel has a very strong army, supported by the United States. The Lebanese army has been sidelined for 30 years by political will because it wanted to strengthen Hezbollah’s presence,” she said.
The lawmaker added that Hezbollah was unable to stop the Israeli attack.
“Hezbollah cannot stop these war crimes, it cannot stop any of the aggressions that Israel is committing. I think… with all this massacre and destruction, I think we have no choice.”
The killings of Brigadier General Wissam Sabra, Captain Elie Khoury and soldier Hussein Ghozal come at a tense moment amid broader efforts to reach a deal between the United States, Iran, Hezbollah, the Lebanese government and Israel.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said the attack was “aimed at thwarting all efforts to find a solution” and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam called it “a heinous crime and an attack on Lebanon and all Lebanese people.”
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel on March 2, following joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Tehran signed a ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah as a condition for a peace deal with the United States.
