BEIRUT: Israeli air strikes pounded Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, as Lebanon waited to hear Washington’s latest ceasefire proposals after a US official expressed hope a truce could be reached.

More than seven weeks since Israel went on the offensive against Hezbollah, midmorning air strikes levelled half a dozen buildings in the Beirut suburb known as Dahiyeh and killed eight people in Dawhit Aramoun, a village south of the capital. The dead included three women and three children, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

“They used to hit Dahiyeh at night, now they are doing it in daytime. Things are intensifying day after day,” said Hassan Moussa, 40, speaking in Beirut, adding that Israeli airstrikes had also widened to areas such as Aramoun.

White House envoy Amos Hochstein, the US official who has led several fruitless attempts to broker a ceasefire over the last year, told Axios that he thought “there is a shot” at a truce in Lebanon soon. “I am hopeful we can get it.”

His comments point to a last-ditch bid by the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden to secure a Lebanon ceasefire as diplomacy to end the Gaza conflict appears adrift, with mediator Qatar having suspended its role.

The United States and other world powers say a ceasefire in Lebanon must be based on UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended a conflict between the sides in 2006. The resolution demands that the areas of south Lebanon near the Israeli border be free of any weapons other than those of the Lebanese state.

Israel long complained it was never implemented, pointing to Hezbollah weapons and fighters at the border. Lebanon in turn accused Israel of violating the resolution, with Israeli warplanes regularly violating its airspace.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a political ally of Hezbollah and endorsed by it to negotiate, was quoted as saying that Lebanon was awaiting concrete ceasefire proposals and had not been informed officially of any new ideas.

“What is on the table is only Resolution 1701 and its provisions, which must be implemented and adhered to by both sides, not by the Lebanese side alone,” Berri, who helped negotiate the 2006 truce, told Asharq Al Awsat newspaper.

Israel wants the right to intervene itself to enforce any ceasefire if it deems it necessary, noting the presence of UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon had not stopped Hezbollah from building forces in the area.

Israeli warning

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Wednesday’s Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which residents have been largely evacuated. The Israeli military earlier issued a statement on social media saying it would act soon against targets in the area, warning residents they were located near Hezbollah facilities.

Tuesday’s Israeli airstrikes flattened around a dozen buildings in Dahiyeh. Hezbollah said it used drones to attack Tel Aviv’s Hakirya military base for the first time.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2024