Israel pounds southern Beirut as Lebanon awaits ceasefire proposals

The Israeli army announced that six of its soldiers were killed during fighting with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Israeli air strikes have targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs for the second consecutive day as Lebanese negotiators awaited a potential new ceasefire proposal from Washington.

Since Wednesday morning, Israeli air strikes levelled half a dozen buildings in Dahiyeh and killed at least eight people in Dawhit Aramoun, a village south of the capital.

Three women and three children were among those killed, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said.

Israel’s military escalated its attacks on Lebanon in September following nearly a year of trading cross-border fire with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which began firing rockets towards Israel in what it says was “solidarity” with Palestinians in Gaza.

Lebanon’s health ministry said since October 8, 3,365 people in Lebanon have been killed by Israeli attacks and 14,344 others wounded.

The Israeli military said its air force had destroyed nine Hezbollah weapons storage facilities and command centres in the Beirut area. It also said that Hezbollah had fired 40 projectiles into Israel.

Later, the army announced that six of its soldiers were killed during fighting in southern Lebanon. Since Israel launched its ground offensive in southern Lebanon, at least 47 Israeli troops have been killed.

Hezbollah said that it fired ballistic missiles at the Israeli army’s headquarters. In a statement, the group said it targeted the site, which houses both the defence ministry and the headquarters of the Israeli military, with Qader-2 missiles.

Earlier, the group said it had targeted the same site with explosive drones, and later said it had fired a salvo of missiles at another site near the Israeli capital, Tel Aviv. It said the site was owned by the Israeli Weapons Industries (IWI) arms manufacturer, which supplies the army.

Ceasefire negotiations

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 suggest a possible last-ditch bid by the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden to secure a Lebanon ceasefire.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, whom Hezbollah has endorsed as its negotiator, was quoted as saying on Wednesday that Lebanon was waiting for concrete ceasefire proposals.

“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 told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said there had been “a certain progress” in ceasefire talks over Lebanon, though the main challenge would be enforcement.

Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, told military commanders Israel would not “take our foot off the pedal, and we will not allow any arrangement that does not include the achievement of our war objectives.”

Katz added that Israel’s war goals include disarming Hezbollah and pushing them beyond the Litani River, which flows across southern Lebanon.