Israel’s Netanyahu orders attacks in Beirut’s southern suburbs

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.

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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.

900-year-old castle captured

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.