Israel attacks Beirut suburb two days after Lebanon agreed for talks

Israel has killed a senior Hezbollah commander in an attack on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which comes only two days after Lebanon’s president announced the country had succumbed to an Israeli pressure campaign and agreed to hold negotiations.

Hezbollah confirmed that its chief of staff, Haytham Ali Tabtabai, was among five people killed and 28 others wounded in the Israeli strike on Beirut’s Haret Hreik neighbourhood on Sunday.
Israeli officials and media have warned of a renewed escalation against Lebanon in recent weeks, claiming Hezbollah is regrouping and rearming. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s government has come under pressure from Israel via its main benefactor, the United States, as both countries urge it to move faster to disarm Hezbollah and meet with Israelis for direct talks.
Israel has ‘the upper hand’
Lebanon’s leadership had pushed for indirect negotiations with Israel, even though the issue is divisive inside the country. Just two days before Israel’s attack on Beirut’s suburb, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun addressed the issue.

“The Lebanese state is ready to negotiate under the UN, US or joint international sponsorship – any agreement that would establish a framework for a permanent end to transborder aggressions,” Aoun announced on Friday from Tyr, a southern city that suffered extensive damage during last year’s war.

Aoun did not say explicitly whether or not the talks would be direct. Analysts, however, told Al Jazeera that Israel’s recent uptick in attacks indicates it is not looking to negotiate.
Despite an ostensible ceasefire, Israel has intensified attacks in Lebanon’s south and Bekaa Valley in recent days. At least 13 people were killed by an Israeli strike on Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp last week, in an attack that killed mostly children and marked the highest death toll in a single strike since a ceasefire was agreed in November last year.

Israel has killed more than 300 people in Lebanon since then, including around 127 civilians, according to the United Nations. It also continues to occupy at least five points in south Lebanon, despite the ceasefire stating Israel would withdraw its troops from Lebanese territory.