New Israeli strikes hit Lebanon after Washington talks
Israeli strikes rocked southern Lebanon overnight and into Wednesday, a day after a first round of historic talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington. Smoke rose over the coastal city of Tyre, underscoring the fragility of diplomatic efforts.
Though Israeli strikes in Beirut have eased since last week’s shattering 10-minute bombardment without warning that killed over 350 people across the country, areas in southern Lebanon remain under frequent attack.
Israel’s military has periodically issued warnings telling residents of wide swathes of southern Lebanon to flee, but thousands have stayed, either because they don’t want to leave their homes or because they have nowhere to go. Tyre was once viewed by many displaced families as a relative refuge from the heaviest fighting in areas closer to the Israeli border.
Now many residents say there is little sense of safety anywhere as Israel targets the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.
Across the city, the aftermath of bombardment was visible in shattered buildings, mounds of rubble and debris-strewn streets. Residents moved cautiously along roads lined with wreckage.
An Israeli drone struck a car overnight a few hundred meters from Tyre’s city centre. It was not immediately clear who was targeted, but witnesses said it killed a young woman who was sitting outside her house nearby.
Mourners gathered Wednesday to bury the woman, 19-year-old Ghadir Baalbaki, in a temporary cemetery for those killed during the war. Many families are unable to bury relatives in hometowns closer to the front lines.” We prayed maghrib (the Islamic evening prayer) and went and sat outside. We were sitting for 10 minutes before the strike hit us,” said Mariam Hamoud, Baalbaki’s aunt. “I hugged Ghadir because I thought she had fainted. I kept trying to wake her up.” Her father, Mohammed Baalbaki, stood beside the grave in tears.
“We cannot adapt to life without her,” he said. “Since this tragedy took place yesterday, we have been suffering.”
The latest escalation between Israel and Hezbollah began when Hezbollah fired several rockets towards northern Israel, just days after the US and Israel launched their war on Iran. Israel responded with an intense aerial campaign and ground invasion.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in Israeli strikes, Lebanon’s health ministry has said, and over one million Lebanese people have been displaced. Tuesday’s talks in Washington marked a rare face-to-face meeting between Lebanese and Israeli officials.
But Hezbollah opposes the talks, viewing it as a concession to the Israelis while they continue to bomb the country. The Lebanese government, which has been critical of Hezbollah for dragging the country into another war, says talks are the only way to end the fighting.
Israel’s military said on Wednesday that it had struck more than 200 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon as it presses ahead with its aerial and ground war there despite the US-Iran ceasefire.
