Israeli strikes on Beirut while Aoun is in Paris to shore up the fragile truce
The winds of war are blowing again between Israel and Lebanon after rockets are fired into Israel from Lebanon, followed by Israeli planes striking near the Lebanese capital. Hezbollah denies any involvement, and the agreement falters. President Aoun meets Macron and talks with Ahmad al-Shara to stabilise the border with Syria.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – The winds of war are blowing once again over Lebanon, with Israeli fighter jets hitting military targets near Beirut in response to a rocket attack against Kiryat Shmona, which failed to reach its target.
Georges Aoun, mayor of Hadath, fumed: “Every time we take one step forward, we take ten steps back. Resident s displaced during the war had started to return and renovate their homes. After today’s strike, they took their children and left.”
This reaction illustrates the feeling not only of the mayor of this Christian suburb of Beirut located on the edge of the area struck yesterday by Israeli planes, but of all the Lebanese, who feel trapped in a situation that is beyond their control, and risks ruining the summer tourist season and the efforts of economic recovery, if it persists.
Yesterday's air strikes, the first since the ceasefire of 26 November 2024 that ended the total war that Israel had waged against Hezbollah, came a few hours after two "anonymous" rockets were fired at the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. One failed to cross the border, while the other was intercepted.
This pretext was enough for Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz to carry out a threat he had made a week earlier: “If there is no quiet in Kiryat Shmona and the Galilee communities, there will be no quiet in Beirut either,” he had said.
Katz's threats came in the wake of five rockets fired at Metula, another northern Israeli town; three were intercepted, while two fell inside Lebanon. The Lebanese army found rudimentary launch pads in a valley north of the Litani River, but no sign as to who the perpetrators were,
Yesterday's Israeli military action was preceded by a warning to the civilian population in the neighbourhood surrounding the building that was bombed, which Israel described as a "drone warehouse.” The warning triggered a panic in two schools located next to the building.
The targeted building was completely destroyed, but no casualties were reported. Moreover, the Israeli reaction was not limited to Beirut. At least 50 air strikes were carried out on suspected Hezbollah sites in the south and in the West Bekaa, killing at least two people.
President Aoun in Paris
This serious incident occurred while the Lebanese head of state, President Joseph Aoun, was on a state visit to Paris. From the French capital, he said that, based on Lebanese military intelligence, “everything indicates” that “Hezbollah is not responsible" for the latest rocket fire against Israel.
He added that, “There will be an investigation into the origin of this fire,” he said. A source in the pro-Iranian party denied any responsibility for the rocket fire.
To avoid an escalation, Lebanon has launched a diplomatic offensive. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has held a series of diplomatic meetings, including with the ambassadors of the quintet countries, represented on the international commission monitoring the truce in southern Lebanon, to urge Israel to exercise restraint.
President Macron announced that he was going to talk by phone with his US counterpart Donald Trump “in the coming hours” and with the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu. According to Lebanese television, President Trump has asked Israeli officials to refrain from bombing Beirut.
“We have not had any information indicating Hezbollah strikes and military activities in the south,” said the French president, who was speaking at the Élysée Palace alongside President Joseph Aoun.
“It is an absolute necessity that the (ceasefire) framework that we defined, and that was agreed to by Lebanon and Israel, is duly respected. It was not respected today by Israel unilaterally and without us having had any information or proof of generating events,” he added.
Yesterday President Aoun also spoke by videoconference, in the presence of Mr Macron, with his Syrian counterpart, President Ahmed el-Sharaa, about the incident that had killed and wounded some people on the Syrian-Lebanese border two weeks earlier.
The two leaders acknowledged “the strategic importance of the demarcation of the border” and “the activation of coordination mechanisms to deal with security and military threats.”
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