Israel has launched its biggest wave of airstrikes against Lebanon since the outbreak of war more than a month ago, hitting more than 100 targets in the space of 10 minutes on the morning after a ceasefire with Iran. The Israel Defence Forces said the targets included military centres run by Hezbollah, the militia aligned with Iran.
The airstrikes demonstrated Israel’s belief that the ceasefire in the Iran war does not apply to the fighting in Lebanon. Television footage showed explosions in residential areas of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, fuelling concerns that civilians were being killed despite IDF claims that it was hitting military targets.
Trump confirmed his view that the war in Lebanon was separate to his two-week ceasefire agreement with Iran.
“They were not included in the deal,” the US president told US broadcaster PBS. “That’ll get taken care of too. That’s a separate skirmish.”
The Lebanese government said 112 people were killed and 837 were wounded on Wednesday alone.
The intensity of the attack is putting the ceasefire at risk, with Iran’s Tasnim news service citing a government official saying Iran will withdraw from the agreement if the attacks on Lebanon continue. Another Iranian service, Fars News Agency, said the government had halted oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz because of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
