JERUSALEM – Israel will continue to strike Lebanon for the time being and will not be withdrawing from the south, Defence Minister Israel Katz said yesterday, after Lebanon and Israel agreed to a ceasefire contingent on Hezbollah halting attacks.
The deal was announced in Washington after talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials, part of a US-led diplomatic track to which the Iran-backed Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah is not a party. Hezbollah has yet to comment on the agreement.
Israel carried out several attacks in southern Lebanon yesterday, security sources said. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported a drone strike on a motorbike killed one person and wounded another. A drone buzzed over Beirut.
The Israeli military, in a warning to residents of the south, said it was continuing to target Hezbollah facilities.
The war has continued despite several ceasefires declared from Washington since April. Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the group opened fire in support of Tehran as it came under US-Israeli attack. The war has become a sticking point in diplomacy towards resolving the regional conflict. Tehran, whose Revolutionary Guards established Hezbollah in 1982, has demanded an end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon as part of any deal. A statement released by the US State Department said the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire was contingent on Hezbollah completely halting fire and the evacuation of all its operatives from the area between the border and the Litani River.
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