Israeli strikes kill 32 in Lebanon, putting US-Iran talks in peril
Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed at least 32 people despite a ceasefire being in place, with the violence threatening to derail talks between the United States and Iran aimed at cementing a fragile peace process.
Follow-up talks between Iran and the US on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed this week will be held in Burgenstock, Switzerland, on Sunday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Saturday. US and Iranian representatives will participate, along with mediators from Pakistan and Qatar, it added.
But ongoing Israeli air raids and drone attacks in southern Lebanon, which continued even after a renewed ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah began on Friday, have complicated the planned talks. Iran views a ceasefire in Lebanon as essential to the diplomatic process and that it could “make or break” the US-Iran talks.
Israeli strikes killed 16 people and wounded 12 in Nabatieh district in the country’s south on Saturday, Lebanon’s civil defence agency said.
A Lebanese soldier was killed in an Israeli attack on the village of Kfar Reman, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said.
NNA reported Israeli attacks in Tyre District, with an Israeli strike on the village of Barish killing four members of the same family – a father, a mother and their two children. Another Israeli raid hit a house in Sohmor in the western Bekaa while a family was inside, killing four people and injuring one, NNA said.
An Israeli attack on Qanarit in Sidon district killed at least seven people and wounded 13, said Lebanon’s Health Emergency Operations Centre.
But ongoing Israeli air raids and drone attacks in southern Lebanon, which continued even after a renewed ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah began on Friday, have complicated the planned talks. Iran views a ceasefire in Lebanon as essential to the diplomatic process and that it could “make or break” the US-Iran talks.
Israeli strikes killed 16 people and wounded 12 in Nabatieh district in the country’s south on Saturday, Lebanon’s civil defence agency said.
A Lebanese soldier was killed in an Israeli attack on the village of Kfar Reman, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said.
NNA reported Israeli attacks in Tyre District, with an Israeli strike on the village of Barish killing four members of the same family – a father, a mother and their two children. Another Israeli raid hit a house in Sohmor in the western Bekaa while a family was inside, killing four people and injuring one, NNA said.
An Israeli attack on Qanarit in Sidon district killed at least seven people and wounded 13, said Lebanon’s Health Emergency Operations Centre.
