Israeli Airstrike on Northern Lebanon Kills at Least 14

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike near the village of Al Mansouri, Tyre District, southern Lebanon, 11 November 2024. (EPA)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike near the village of Al Mansouri, Tyre District, southern Lebanon, 11 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Airstrike on Northern Lebanon Kills at Least 14

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike near the village of Al Mansouri, Tyre District, southern Lebanon, 11 November 2024. (EPA)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike near the village of Al Mansouri, Tyre District, southern Lebanon, 11 November 2024. (EPA)

At least 14 people were killed and 15 others injured in an Israeli airstrike on the northern Lebanese town of Ain Yaaqoub on Monday, according to the town's mayor.

The strike, which marks the northernmost point in Lebanon hit by Israeli forces since hostilities began in October 2023, hit a building where 30 people were residing including Syrian refugees, Mayor Majed Derbes told Reuters. He said some people were still trapped under the rubble.

Earlier on Monday, an Israeli raid in Al-Saksakieh in Sidon District killed at least seven and injured seven more according to the Lebanese health ministry.  

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday that 54 people were killed and 56 wounded on Sunday, raising the total toll from a year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 3,243 killed and 14,134 wounded.

One-quarter of them were women and children, the ministry said, with 2,325 men, 634 women and 201 children killed since the Israel-Hezbollah war began 13 months ago. Before the war intensified on Sept. 23, Hezbollah had said that nearly 500 of its members were killed but the group has stopped updating its death toll since.

In the health care sector, the ministry said that 191 health workers have been killed, 308 wounded and 244 medical vehicles damaged since Oct. 8, 2023. Additionally, 88 medical and ambulatory centers have been affected, along with 65 hospitals.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”