By Canadian Press

Israel bombards central Beirut as its leadership prepares to vote on ceasefire with Hezbollah

Nov 26, 2024 | 7:15 AM

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli jets struck a residential building in central Beirut on Tuesday and issued new evacuation orders for 20 buildings in the Lebanese capital’s southern suburbs.

The strike leveled the building in central Beirut’s Basta neighborhood, the second strike in recent days in the crowded area near the city’s downtown.

There were no immediate report of casualties. It was not immediately clear if anyone in particular was targeted, though Israel says its airstrikes target Hezbollah officials and assets.

In a signal of more strikes to come, Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued evacuation warnings for 20 buildings in the southern Beirut suburbs, as well as a warning for the southern town of Naqoura where the United Nations peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, is headquartered.

The Beirut strike came hours before Israel’s security Cabinet was scheduled to meet to vote on a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal aimed at ending more than a year of fighting between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.

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THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Israeli warplanes struck buildings in Beirut’s suburbs and in a southern Lebanese city Tuesday, as Israel’s security Cabinet prepared to vote on a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal aimed at ending more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah.

Hopes have risen for the deal, which calls for a two-month initial halt in fighting and would require Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops would return to their side of the border.

Israel’s security Cabinet, meeting Tuesday afternoon, was expected to approve the proposal, which Lebanese officials have said Hezbollah also supports.

Among the main sticking points has been an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Under the proposal, thousands of Lebanese troopsand U.N. peacekeepers would deploy in the south, and an international panel headed by the United States would monitor all sides’ compliance.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, doesn’t provide “effective enforcement” of the deal.

“If you don’t act, we will act, and with great force,” he said, speaking with U.N. special envoy Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that Israel’s security concerns had been addressed in the U.S.-French-brokered deal.

“There is not an excuse for not implementing a ceasefire. Otherwise, Lebanon will fall apart,” Borrell told reporters in Fiuggi, Italy, on the sidelines of a Group of Seven meeting. He said the U.S. would chair a ceasefire implementation committee, and France would participate at the request of Lebanon.

Bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs continues

Even as Israeli, U.S, Lebanese and international officials have expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire, Israel has continued its campaign in Lebanon, which it says aims to cripple Hezbollah’s military capabilities.

Israeli jets struck at least six buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs Tuesday. One strike slammed near the country’s only airport, sending large plumes of smoke into the sky. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The airport has continued to function despite its location on the Mediterranean coast next to the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah’s operations are based.

Other strikes hit in the southern city of Tyre, where the Israeli militiary said it killed a local Hezbollah commander.

The Israeli military also said its ground troops reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River — a focal point of the emerging ceasefire.

It said troops clashed with Hezbollah forces and destroyed rocket launchers in the Slouqi area on the eastern end of the Litani, just a few kilometers (miles) from the border.

Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Israeli border.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the strongest Iranian-backed force in the region, would likely significantly calm regional tensions that have led to fears of a direct, all-out war between Israel and Iran. It’s not clear how the ceasefire will affect the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Hezbollah had long insisted that it would not agree to a ceasefire until the war in Gaza ends, but it dropped that condition.

Hezbollah began firing into northern Israel, saying it was showing support for the Palestinians, a day after Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, triggering the Gaza war. Israel returned fire on Hezbollah, and the two sides have been exchanging barrages ever since.

In early September, Israel escalated its campaign of bombardment and sent troops into Lebanon, vowing to put an end to Hezbollah fire.

More than 3,760 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon the past 13 months, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The bombardment has driven 1.2 million people from their homes. Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members.

Hezbollah fire has forced some 50,000 Israelis to evacuate homes in the country’s north, and its rockets have reached as far south in Israel as Tel Aviv. At least 75 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians. More than 50 Israeli soldiers died fighting in the ground offensive in Lebanon.

After previous hopes for a ceasefire were dashed, U.S. officials cautioned that negotiations were not yet complete and noted that there could be last-minute hitches that either delay or destroy an agreement.

“Nothing is done until everything is done,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.

While the ceasefire proposal is expected to be approved if Netanyahu brings it to a vote in his security Cabinet, one hard-line member, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, said he would oppose it. He said on X that a deal with Lebanon would be a “big mistake” and a “missed historic opportunity to eradicate Hezbollah.”

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Find more of AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press