Following the latest in a string of nearly daily violations by Israel of the US-brokered November 2024 ceasefire, another deadly Israeli drone attack in southern Lebanon, this time causing the death of five people, including three children. Lebanon is pressing for more support from the US.
The Lebanese presidency said in a statement on Tuesday that President Joseph Aoun and other officials met with a delegation led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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Aoun urged Rubio to reaffirm the truce between Israel and the armed Lebanese Hezbollah in light of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon.
The Lebanese president claimed that he needs Washington’s assistance to hold a conference on reconstruction in Lebanon and that he wants Israel to stop occupying certain regions of his nation.
Aoun pointed out that the Lebanese army’s mandate includes “all Lebanese regions,” as the nation “tries to achieve just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the Middle East region” in response to ongoing efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
On Tuesday, he is expected to address the UN General Assembly, where he is expected to denounce Israeli attacks in the region, including those in Gaza and Lebanon.
Hezbollah has categorically refused to put down its weapons despite having its top political and military commanders assassinated during the Gaza war despite being heavily pushed by Israel, the US, the Lebanese government, and Saudi Arabia.
Secretary-General Naim Qassem pleaded with Saudi Arabia to repair relations and unite against Israel last week, stating in a speech that the Iran-backed “resistance” axis is not the enemy.
Civilians in Lebanon continue to pay the price despite the political conflict, particularly in the southern regions.
The same family’s members were brutally murdered two days earlier in Bint Jbeil, according to a funeral service held on Tuesday.
A father and his three children, two of whom were twins, were present. In a hospital with serious injuries, the family’s mother and one of their daughters were also in the car.
The Israeli army always uses the justification it uses to justify its attacks in Lebanon, claiming that the target was a fifth civilian killed and that allegedly a member of Hezbollah, despite acknowledging that civilians were killed in the attack.
The military referred to the terrorist as “operating in a civilian population area” as supporting “the military’s attacks that frequently kill civilians. It also claimed that this was in contravention of “understandings between Israel and Lebanon.”
Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanon’s parliament and long-time Amal movement leader, claimed their father and three children Celine, Hadi, and Aseel, were American citizens.
However, a representative from the US State Department claimed that one person had “an unused immigrant visa petition in the past” and that they were not citizens of the US.
The killings were described by Aoun and other senior Lebanese officials as a “new massacre that needs to be stopped.”
Nawaf Salam, the country’s former leader of the International Court of Justice, claimed Israel is attempting to encircle Lebanese civilians who are returning to their largely destroyed villages and towns in southern Lebanon.
Israeli forces fired from a military post in the occupied Shebaa Farms, according to a report from the Lebanon’s National News Agency on Tuesday morning, aiming their fire at a neighborhood close to Kfarchouba, which had been repeatedly bombed during the conflict. There were no reported injuries.
Source: Aljazeera
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