Lebanon awaits outcome of peace negotiations as Israeli airstrikes continue

BEIRUT: Lebanon is waiting for the outcome of the Doha negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of the army from its southern front.

Israel has renewed its threats of a wide-scale war in Lebanon, which have hindered negotiations.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi warned of the dangers of the war expanding in Lebanon.

Abdel Atty warned during a joint press conference with Safadi in Cairo of “the dangers of escalation that could destabilize Lebanon and lead the region into an all-out war.”

Safadi emphasized the importance of “preserving Lebanon, its security, stability, and preventing the war from spreading there.”

Military operations in southern Lebanon did not stop on Wednesday.

Artillery shelling in the town of Markaba and the outskirts of Hunin caused a fire in a house.

While the Islamic Health Organization’s firefighting teams affiliated with Hezbollah were working to extinguish the flames, an Israeli warplane dropped a bomb in the vicinity, injuring one person.

Israeli warplanes targeted an uninhabited house in the town of Tair Harfa.

Later, Israeli Channel 14 said that “about 20 missiles were detected coming from Lebanon toward Upper Galilee. Sirens sounded in Dan Dafna HaGoshrim Snir and Sha’ar Yashuv in the Finger of the Galilee.”

Al-Manar TV channel, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that “fires broke out in the northern slopes of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights after missiles fell on the enemy’s artillery site in Zaoura.”

Israeli airstrikes intensified at dawn on the border town of Kafr Kila. There were five raids in less than an hour.

The Israeli army announced that it targeted “two Hezbollah sites used by air defense systems in Jinta in the Lebanese interior and Baraachit in the south, without recording any casualties.”

Five Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of the town of Nabi Sheet in the Baalbek region on Tuesday night resulted in civilian casualties.

Al-Arabiya TV channel reported that an Israeli security source said: “The Israeli army is ready for a ground operation on several fronts.”

The source said: “Israel has detected thousands of militia members affiliated with Iran on Syrian territory, and we expect difficult fighting days on the Lebanon and Syrian fronts.”

The source added: “Three additional teams of Israeli ground forces are ready in the Northern Command, and the Israeli General Staff is ready with the air and naval arms.”

Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah, said in a statement: “The Israeli aggression would not have lasted nine months had America not supported it with everything at the military, media, cultural, and political levels, and international sponsorship and pressure on the UN Security Council.”

Qassem added: “Currently, there is talk about the possibility of an agreement, but if America continues to act in the same way, Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli premier) will not respond because he believes that the Americans are not applying enough pressure on him.”

He said that if the Americans applied “real pressure,” Netanyahu would have to end the war. “Currently, they are making it easier for him to commit atrocities by killing children and women in Gaza. The Gaza experience is before us. The Israelis initially planned to destroy Gaza in three months, but it’s been nine months now and they haven’t succeeded. If they continue, they won’t succeed, and Israel shouldn’t expect the Palestinians to give up.”

Addressing “some major countries looking for a solution,” Qassem said: “The solution begins with a ceasefire, and any other option will not lead to a solution. Either the fighting continues or there is a ceasefire. As for us in Lebanon, if they stop in Gaza, we will stop, and if they continue, we will continue.”