Israel strikes in Lebanon despite ceasefire deal

Israel will continue to strike Lebanon for the time being
and won't be withdrawing from the south, Defence Minister Israel Katz said
today (4 June), after Lebanon and Israel agreed to a ceasefire contingent on
Hezbollah halting attacks.
The United States announced Lebanon
and Israel had agreed to implement a ceasefire after a meeting in Washington
between Lebanese and Israeli officials. But Iran-backed Hezbollah is not a
party to the talks, and has yet to comment on the agreement.
The commander of Iran's
Revolutionary Guards Quds Force - which established Hezbollah in 1982 - said
"the minimum demand of the resistance" is Israel's withdrawal to
positions it held before the war began and Israeli forces invaded the south.
Israel carried out numerous airstrikes in southern Lebanon today, security
sources said. Lebanon's National News Agency reported five people killed in
airstrikes in the town of Sohmor. A drone buzzed over Beirut.
The Israeli military, in a warning
to residents of the south, said it was continuing to target Hezbollah
facilities.
The war has ground on despite
several ceasefires declared from Washington since April. Hostilities between
Hezbollah and Israel reignited on 2 March, when the group opened fire in
support of Tehran as it came under US-Israeli attack.
The war has become a sticking point
in diplomacy towards resolving the regional conflict. Tehran has demanded an
end to Israeli attacks in Lebanon as part of any deal.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said
the statement issued in Washington was "a final opportunity to secure a
comprehensive and permanent ceasefire". Lebanon would convey its position
to the US once it received responses from the relevant domestic parties,
particularly Hezbollah, he said.
Israel to remain in 'security zone'
A statement released by the US
State Department said the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire was contingent on Hezbollah
completely halting fire and the evacuation of all its operatives from the area
between the border and the Litani River.
It made no reference to any
Israeli withdrawal from the south, where Israel has seized a self-declared
security zone, saying it aims to protect northern Israel from attacks.
In a statement, Katz said Israeli
forces would remain in the security zone, including the area of Beaufort
castle, seized by Israeli forces at the weekend, "and without the return
of the population". Israel "will, for the time being, continue its
fire and operations on the ground", he said.
Israel's campaign has forced some
1.2 million people to flee their homes, including hundreds of thousands from
southern Lebanon, Lebanese authorities say. Most are Shi'ite Muslims.
Lebanese army to control 'pilot zones'
The joint statement said Lebanon
and Israel agreed "to swiftly advance the creation of pilot zones in which
the Lebanese Armed Forces will take exclusive control of the territory to the
exclusion of all non-state actors".
The Lebanese army deployed into the
south as part of a ceasefire agreed in November 2024 to end the last
Hezbollah-Israel war, and declared in January that it had established control
over the area between the border and the Litani.
President Aoun, a Maronite
Christian, and Lebanon's Sunni Muslim Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have been
seeking Hezbollah's peaceful disarmament for a year, fuelling tension with the
group.
Hezbollah has demanded Beirut quit
the Washington talks.
Ben-Gvir says ceasefire a 'serious mistake'
Israel's far-right National
Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the ceasefire a "serious
mistake" and called for a cabinet vote.
Ben-Gvir said that Hezbollah would
not withdraw its fighters from the area south of the Litani River and that the
Lebanese Armed Forces were incapable of forcing Hezbollah to comply.
Netanyahu has come under pressure
from political opponents and some allies who say he has ceded sovereignty in
yielding to the US.
Katz said Israel would continue to
"dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the area" while Israel had
"freedom of action, backed by the US, to strike in Beirut in response to
attacks on Israeli communities and territory".
A UN peacekeeper in Lebanon died on
Thursday from wounds sustained when mortar shells hit his position near Marjayoun
in southeastern Lebanon late the previous night, the UN peacekeeping mission
UNIFIL said.
















