Intense International Pressure to Spare Lebanon from Expanded War

US Envoy Amos Hochstein meets with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during a visit to Beirut. (AFP)
US Envoy Amos Hochstein meets with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during a visit to Beirut. (AFP)
TT
20

Intense International Pressure to Spare Lebanon from Expanded War

US Envoy Amos Hochstein meets with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during a visit to Beirut. (AFP)
US Envoy Amos Hochstein meets with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during a visit to Beirut. (AFP)

Fears of an expanded war between Hezbollah and Israel have mounted following the regional escalation and the Israeli army’s announcement of its readiness to move from defense to attack on the northern front with Lebanon.

US Envoy Amos Hochstein did not return to Beirut following his visit last month amid reports that he is linking any new trip to reaching a truce in Gaza that would facilitate a Lebanese-Israeli understanding on restoring stability to the Lebanese south and the Israeli north.

Government circles have dismissed claims of a decline in international interest in the situation in Lebanon, pointing to continued communication with the government.

“We cannot talk about assurances that the situation will not deteriorate, but rather about international pressure that has reached its peak on Israel not to expand the war,” the sources said.

Member of Lebanon's Coalition for Change parliamentary bloc MP Marc Daou, who recently met with international delegates and foreign ambassadors, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “What we always hear is that the opportunities for calm are diminishing, so is the hope of avoiding escalation.”

“The Lebanese state can avoid the spillover of the war if the prime minister and the minister of foreign affairs announce a clear position on rejecting military actions in Lebanon, as well as from Lebanon, which expose our homeland to danger,” he said.

“However, they are unable to do so as they are hostage to sectarian disputes and the government’s lack of any vision to save the country.”

The Director of the Middle East Institute for Strategic Affairs, Dr. Sami Nader, noted that the decline of the international movement towards Lebanon was due to the regional escalation that followed the targeting of the Iranian consulate in Damascus on April 1.

“The confrontation has become direct between Israel and Iran, and it may expand further. Therefore, the file of neutralizing Lebanon, despite its importance, has become part of the larger file, and the larger open conflict,” he stated.



Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
TT
20

Building in Beirut Southern Suburbs Struck After Israeli Warning

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A building in Beirut’s southern suburbs known as Dahieh was struck on Sunday almost an hour after the Israeli army issued an evacuation order to residents of the area.

The Israeli army's spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, earlier said on X that residents should evacuate several buildings in the Hadath neighborhood and move "at least 300 meters away.”

Residents reported hearing gunfire across the area, which they said they believed was intended to warn people to leave, as well as seeing a massive traffic jam on roads leading from the area.

"To everyone located in the building marked in red on the attached map, and the surrounding buildings: you are near facilities belonging to Hezbollah," Adraee wrote in a post that included a map of the potential targets.

The Israeli army said the building was being used to store precision missiles belonging to Hezbollah.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that Hezbollah's precision missiles "posed a significant threat to the State of Israel."

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called on the United States and France, as guarantors of the ceasefire agreement struck in November, to compel Israel to stop its attacks.
"Israel's continued actions in undermining stability will exacerbate tensions and place the region at real risk, threatening its security and stability," he said in a statement.

Earlier this month an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including a Hezbollah official, in Beirut's southern suburbs -the second Israeli strike on a Hezbollah-controlled area of the Lebanese capital in five days.