Israel has accused the country of escalating its airstrikes, the most recent of which resulted in the death of a motorcycle rider in southern Lebanon, under the leadership of the Lebanese president Joseph Aoun.
Israel has continued nearly daily airstrikes in five areas of southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire that was established in November 2024, repeatedly violating the truce. Hezbollah is claimed by Israel, but civilians have also been killed.
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After American President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire in Gaza, Aoun had demanded negotiations with Israel in the middle of October.
Lebanon is prepared to engage in negotiations to end the Israeli occupation, but any such negotiations require mutual apprehension, which is not the case, Aoun said on Friday.
Israel “is responding to this option by intensifying tensions and carrying out more attacks against Lebanon,” he said in a meeting with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
An Israeli drone was shot at a man riding a motorcycle in Kunin, Lebanon’s official news agency (NNA). One person was reported to have been killed and another to have been hurt, according to the ministry of public health.
A Hezbollah maintenance officer, according to the Israeli military, was “eliminated” while attempting to re-establish the organization’s southern Lebanon infrastructure sites.
A second attack on Friday targeted a building in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon, according to the NNA, adding that a missile struck the building’s roof.
According to the statement, the explosion sounded loudly, causing “heightened tension and panic among residents.” There were no reported injuries.
Defending “Israeli aggression”
The Israeli military carried out the strikes in the Lebanese border village of Blida on Friday, one day after Ibrahim Salameh was fatally shot in an overnight raid by the military.
Aoun directed the army to repel these incursions on Thursday, “in defense of Lebanese territory and the safety of citizens.”
He said, “True patriotism entails freedom, independence, and sovereignty.” According to their role, “everyone in Lebanon has a responsibility to confront occupation.”
In contrast to the Hezbollah-led armed group, the Lebanese forces have typically remained silent about the conflict with Israel. However, Aoun, a former Lebanese army commander, appears to have come to an end to his patience with the Israeli-forced status quo.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem demanded on the Lebanese government to “achieve national sovereignty by expelling the Israeli occupation” in an address on Friday.
Qassem urged the government to create a strategy to support the army in order to combat “aggression” by Israel.
Following the start of Israel’s genocidal war in October 2023, Hezbollah first started firing across borders at Israel, sparking a more than a year-long conflict that culminated in two months of open combat before the ceasefire was reached last year.
Israel has continued to launch airstrikes in Lebanon, killing dozens of people, including civilians, first responders, and journalists, and has increased the number of strikes in recent days.
According to a lebanese health ministry release, at least 25 people were killed in Israeli attacks in October, including one Syrian, according to a death toll.
Since the ceasefire ended on April 1, 111 civilians have been killed in Lebanon, according to Jeremy Laurence, a UN human rights commission spokesman.
Foreign Minister of Lebanon Youssef Raggi pleaded with his visiting German counterpart on Friday to “help put pressure on Israel to stop its attacks.”
The NNA quoted Raggi as saying, “Only a diplomatic solution, not a military one, can guarantee stability and calm in the south,” not a military solution.
He continued, adding that “the Lebanese government is putting all of its weapons under its control gradually.”
Source: Aljazeera
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