Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu rejects US-backed Lebanon ceasefire plan; Hezbollah drone unit head killed
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected a push led by its key backer the United States for a 21-day ceasefire in Lebanon and vowed the military would maintain its bombardment of Hezbollah targets in indefinitely.
Benjamin Netanyahu, who arrived in New York to address the annual United Nations General Assembly, said airstrikes will continue until all Israel’s objectives have been achieved.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement comes even as an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs killed the head of Hezbollah’s drone unit Mohammad Hussein Srour.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah confirmed in a statement that the strike killed Mohammad Hussein Srour, born in 1973.
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Israel’s “policy is clear,” Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force. And we will not stop until we reach all our goals, chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes.”
Just before his comments, the Israeli military said it killed a Hezbollah drone commander, Mohammad Hussein Srour, in an airstrike in the suburbs of Beirut.
“There will be no cease-fire,” foreign minister Israel Katz posted earlier on X, while defence minister Yoav Gallant said the aim of the armed forces is to keep “throwing Hezbollah off balance and deepening their loss.”
The statements by Israel’s prime minister and foreign minister appeared to block attempts led by US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, to secure a three-week cease-fire, news agency Bloomberg reported.
Lebanon’s foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib has claimed that half a million people have been displaced inside the country by the Israeli bombardment. Lebanon’s health ministry said late Thursday Israeli strikes had killed 92 people in the country and injured 153 in the past 24 hours.
Over 1,500 people have been killed since hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah erupted in October last year, with Thursday’s toll bringing the number of people killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon since Monday alone to more than 700.
The US, European states and Arab powers, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all urged a pause in fighting late Wednesday, after Israel indicated it was preparing a possible ground invasion of Lebanon. That would risk spiraling into a regional conflict that could drag in the US and Iran.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking in London, told reporters Thursday that “another full-scale war could be devastating for both Israel and Lebanon”. He said “a diplomatic solution, not a military solution, is the only way to ensure that displaced civilians on both sides of the border can finally go back home.”
Macron warned against Lebanon “becoming a new Gaza”, citing the “absolutely shocking” number of civilian casualties.
Israel’s stance dashed hopes for a swift settlement after Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose government includes Hezbollah elements, had expressed hope for a ceasefire.