JERUSALEM, Jun 14: The Israeli military said it launched strikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut on Sunday, potentially complicating efforts to finalize a deal to end the US-Iran war. Smoke rose over the Lebanese capital, and the Civil Defense said it retrieved three bodies and six wounded people from the rubble.
Iran threatened a military response.
The deal in its current form is a deep disappointment to Israel’s government. The last time Israel struck the Beirut suburbs a week ago, it set off the most serious escalation of fighting between Iran and Israel since the tenuous ceasefire took hold April 7.
There was no immediate White House comment on Israel’s strikes. US President Donald Trump, who had said the deal could be signed Sunday, has pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop hitting Lebanon hard while a deal is near, but the prime minister has defied him.
Netanyahu’s office said the strikes were in response to Hezbollah attacks on the north of the country. There was no immediate comment from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Israel’s military earlier said Hezbollah had launched three projectiles into northern Israel, releasing footage where an audible boom was followed by smoke rising above the tree line.
An Associated Press photographer at the scene said the building struck was a five-story apartment building with shops on the ground floor. The two lowest floors were the most heavily damaged. Residents of the southern suburbs, many of whom had returned home after relative calm in recent weeks, could be seen fleeing the area.�" AP
