Israel rejects ceasefire with Hezbollah; Lebanon on edge as war drags on
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Smoke billowing over Khiam in south Lebanon on Sept 25 amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIRUT – Israel on Sept 26 shot down a proposal from its allies and several Arab nations for a 21-day halt in the recent deadly fighting between the country and Hezbollah that has raised fears of a wider war.
“There will be no ceasefire in the north,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on social media platform X. “We will continue to fight against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation with all our strength until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes.”
The US and its allies in Europe, along with several Arab nations, had called for an immediate 21-day ceasefire across the Israel-Lebanon border while also expressing support for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, according to a joint statement of the countries released by the White House late on Sept 25.
The ceasefire was supposed to apply to the Israel-Lebanon “Blue Line”, the demarcation line between the countries, and would allow the parties to negotiate towards a potential diplomatic resolution of the conflict, said a senior Biden administration official.
Before Israel rejected this joint proposal, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati had expressed hope that a ceasefire could be reached soon to end a conflict that has shaken Lebanon and raised fears of a ground invasion by Israel.
Mr Mikati welcomed the call for a truce but said the key to its implementation was whether Israel, which has been moving troops closer to Lebanon, was committed to enforcing international resolutions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heading to New York to address the United Nations, said he had yet to give his response to the ceasefire proposal.
But hardliners in his government said Israel should reject the truce
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who heads one of two nationalist-religious factions in the governing coalition, said Hezbollah should be crushed, and that only its surrender would make it possible for the evacuees to return.
There has been no let-up in violence so far.
Israeli air strikes overnight hit around 75 Hezbollah targets in the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon, including weapons storage facilities and ready-to-fire launchers.
In the latest deadly strike, at least 23 Syrians, most of them women and children, were killed when Israel hit a three-storey building in the Lebanese town of Younine. Lebanon is home to around 1.5 million Syrians who fled the civil war in Syria.
In response, Hezbollah fired around 45 rockets into the western Galilee area, some of which were intercepted, with the rest falling on open ground.
Air strikes pound Lebanon
Israel widened its air strikes in Lebanon on Sept 25 and at least 72 people were killed, according to a Reuters compilation of Lebanese Health Ministry statements. The ministry earlier said at least 223 were wounded
Israel’s military chief said a ground assault was possible, raising fears that the conflict could spark a wider Middle East war.
Over the last several months, Washington has been engaging with officials in Israel and Lebanon to reduce hostilities, a senior White House official said.
“We have had those discussions for quite some time,” the official said, adding that Washington and its allies were aiming to convert those discussions into a broader agreement during this 21-day ceasefire.
He said US President Joe Biden has been focused on the possibility of a ceasefire
Based on discussions with Israelis and Lebanese, the US and its allies felt this was the right time to call for a ceasefire, the official added.
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters before a UN Security Council meeting on Sept 25 that Israel would welcome a ceasefire and preferred a diplomatic solution.
He then told the Security Council that Iran was the nexus of violence in the region, and peace required dismantling the threat.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters before the council meeting that Iran supported Hezbollah and would not remain indifferent if the conflict in Lebanon spiralled.
World leaders voiced concern that the conflict – running in parallel to Israel’s war in Gaza against Palestinian Hamas militants also backed by Iran – was escalating rapidly as the death toll rose in Lebanon and thousands fled their homes.
Lebanon conflict puts pressure on Biden, Harris
The US administration has for nearly a year sought unsuccessfully to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.
The conflict has been costly politically for Mr Biden, and by extension US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, with the violence in Lebanon increasing pressure on his administration to find a diplomatic solution.
Earlier on Sept 25, Israel shot down a missile
Israeli officials said a heavy missile headed towards civilian areas in Tel Aviv, not the Mossad headquarters, before being shot down.
“You hear the jets overhead; we have been striking all day,” Israel’s armed forces chief Herzi Halevi told Israeli troops on the border with Lebanon, according to a military statement. “This is both to prepare the ground for your possible entry and to continue degrading Hezbollah.”
A Pentagon spokesman said an Israeli ground incursion did not appear imminent.
As many as half a million people may have been displaced in Lebanon, its foreign minister said. In Beirut, thousands of people displaced from southern Lebanon were sheltering in schools and other buildings.
Israel air strikes target Hezbollah leaders
Israeli air strikes this week have targeted Hezbollah leaders
Mourners thronged a funeral on Sept 25 in Beirut’s suburbs for two senior Hezbollah commanders killed in Israeli strikes the day before. Fighters in fatigues carried the flag-covered coffins as a band played. The crowd chanted Hezbollah slogans and some wept.
Israel said its warplanes were hitting south Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold further north, and that it was calling up two more reserve brigades for operations on Israel’s northern border.
In a video message that made no comment on diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire, Mr Netanyahu said Hezbollah was being hit harder than it could ever have imagined.
Israel has made a priority of securing its northern border since war broke out in October 2023
Lebanese hospitals have been filled with the wounded since Sept 23, when Israeli bombing killed more than 550 people in Lebanon’s deadliest day since its civil war ended in 1990. REUTERS
