BEIRUT/JERUSALEM, June 1 (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered attacks on the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday, signalling further escalation of a war that has complicated mediation towards resolving the U.S.-Iran conflict.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said on Monday that Israeli attacks in Lebanon were among factors causing a delay to the diplomatic process to end the U.S.-Iran war, reiterating that a Lebanon ceasefire was an integral part of any deal.
Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the Israeli military to attack “terrorist targets” in the southern suburbs of Beirut, known as Dahiyeh, following Hezbollah’s “repeated violations” of a ceasefire and “attacks against our cities and citizens”, a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
Having pounded Dahiyeh in the early weeks of the war, Israel has carried out only two strikes on the area since U.S. President Donald Trump announced a Lebanon ceasefire on April 16, even as hostilities have raged in southern Lebanon.
ISRAEL CAPTURES 900-YEAR-OLD CASTLE
The order follows an intensification of hostilities in the south over the weekend, with Israeli troops capturing the 900-year-old Beaufort Castle and Netanyahu ordering the military to expand ground operations.
Lebanese authorities say more than 3,370 people have been killed in the country as a result of Israeli attacks since March 2, when Hezbollah opened fire at Israel in support of Iran as it came under U.S.-Israeli attack.
Israel says 24 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed over the same period.
Israel has carved out a self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon where it has been razing villages, saying it aims to shield northern Israel from Hezbollah militants embedded in civilian areas.
The Lebanon war has been the deadliest spillover of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, and has forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.
Netanyahu on Sunday ordered the Israeli military to expand “its ground manoeuvre in Lebanon”, aiming to “deepen and expand our grip on the places that were under Hezbollah’s control”.
Accusing Israel of ceasefire violations and declaring the right to resist Israeli occupation, Hezbollah said it carried out 21 operations on Sunday, including firing a rocket salvo at what it described as Israeli military infrastructure in the Israeli city of Nahariya.
FRANCE CALLS SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING
Citing the escalating violence in Lebanon, France called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday.
The United States has hosted a series of rare meetings between representatives of the governments of Israel and Lebanon since the hostilities erupted, with Beirut attending despite strong objections from Hezbollah.
But a Lebanese source familiar with the diplomacy between Beirut and Washington said Netanyahu’s announcement on Monday reflected the deterioration of the U.S.-led diplomatic track in recent days.
A U.S. official said on Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with both Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the diplomatic negotiations between Israel and Lebanon and that he had proposed a plan to allow for “gradual de-escalation”.
The U.S. has proposed that, as a first step, Hezbollah would stop all attacks on Israel and in return Israel would refrain from escalation in Beirut, the official said.
“This would create space for gradual de-escalation and an effective cessation of hostilities,” according to the official.
The official added that Aoun tried to advance the proposal and secure an agreement. However, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who claimed to “guarantee” Hezbollah’s commitment to a ceasefire, placed the burden on Israel to stop “shooting first”.
Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, in a comment reported by Lebanese media on Sunday, said he would guarantee “full and immediate commitment to a ceasefire by the resistance”, referring to Hezbollah.
“But the question is, who will compel Israel to stop its aggression?” he said.
(Reporting by Rami Ayyub in Jerusalem; Writing by Menna Alaa El-Din and Tom Perry; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Alex Richardson)
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