Blinken Tells Israeli Officials of Need to Avoid Further Escalation with Lebanon

File photo: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the State Department in Washington, US, June 18, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Asharq Al Awsat

07:51-21 June 2024 AD ـ 15 Thul-Hijjah 1445 AH

Asharq Al Awsat

07:51-21 June 2024 AD ـ 15 Thul-Hijjah 1445 AH

Blinken Tells Israeli Officials of Need to Avoid Further Escalation with Lebanon

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli officials during a meeting on Thursday of the need to avoid further escalation in Lebanon amid the war in Gaza, the State Department said.
Blinken was meeting Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Ron Dermer, Israel's minister for strategic affairs, Reuters reported.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group, an ally of the Palestinian group Hamas, has been exchanging strikes with Israel almost daily since the war in Gaza erupted on Oct. 7, with the aim to pull Israeli forces away from the embattled Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah's attacks escalated after Israel expanded its offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah in May, and spiked further in June after an Israeli strike killed high-ranking Hezbollah commander Taleb Sami Abdullah, the most senior militant killed so far during the Israel-Hamas war.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday warned that his party has new weapons and intelligence capabilities that could help it target more critical positions deeper inside Israel in case of an all-out war.
In response, Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said that Israel was aware of Hezbollah's capabilities and has solutions for these threats.

Lebanon Says 8 Killed in Israel Strike Near Coastal City of Sidon

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on the Haret Saida neighborhood, Sidon, Lebanon, 27 October 2024. (EPA)

17:32-27 October 2024 AD ـ 24 Rabi’ Al-Thani 1446 AH

Lebanon Says 8 Killed in Israel Strike Near Coastal City of Sidon

Smoke rises after an Israeli strike on the Haret Saida neighborhood, Sidon, Lebanon, 27 October 2024. (EPA)

Lebanon's health ministry said at least eight people were killed and 25 others wounded Sunday in an Israeli strike near the southern city of Sidon, where an AFP correspondent said a building was targeted.

The strike hit a densely-populated area in a Sidon suburb that saw an influx of families displaced from areas further south.

It was the first strike there since the Israel-Hezbollah war erupted last month.

"The Israeli enemy's raid on Haret Saida resulted in a... toll of eight killed," the health ministry said, revising an earlier toll of two dead.

The official National News Agency said a child was among the victims.

An AFP correspondent said one apartment was destroyed in the strike on a three-storey residential complex.

Surrounding shops and buildings were also damaged, the correspondent said, as paramedics rushed to the site of the attack to search for survivors.

The Israeli army had issued an evacuation warning for several areas in south Lebanon on Sunday, but Haret Saida was not listed among the areas to be targeted.

Also on Sunday, the Israeli military urged residents of 14 villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately and move north of the Awali river.

Elsewhere in the south, a strike on Zawtar al-Sharkiya killed three people and a Saturday bombing of Marjeyoun killed five, it said.

Israel said four of its soldiers were killed in south Lebanon fighting.

Hezbollah also said it had fired a large missile salvo at the Zevulon military industries facility north of Haifa in northern Israel. Hezbollah rockets hit a house and cars and rescue crews responded to put out the fire.

One woman was seriously injured, according to Israel's ambulance service.

The war since September 23 has left at least 1,615 people dead in Lebanon, according to an AFP tally of nationwide health ministry figures, though the real number is likely to be higher due to gaps in the data.

At least 1.3 million people have been displaced, more than 800,000 of them within Lebanon's borders, according to the UN's migration agency.

More than half a million people have crossed into Syria, according to Lebanese authorities, most of them Syrians.

Blinken Tells Israeli Officials of Need to Avoid Further Escalation with Lebanon

Blinken Tells Israeli Officials of Need to Avoid Further Escalation with Lebanon

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Lebanon Says 8 Killed in Israel Strike Near Coastal City of Sidon

Lebanon Says 8 Killed in Israel Strike Near Coastal City of Sidon

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