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The Israeli regime kept up massive bombardment of the Lebanese capital Beirut and other areas in southern Lebanon on Tuesday as Israeli, US and\u00a0Lebanese officials expressed growing optimism over a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
Waves of strikes pounded Hezbollah’s south Beirut stronghold after a flurry of Israeli evacuation warnings, in the heaviest raids since Israel’s air campaign escalated.<\/p>\n
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said that “a belt of fire has encircled (the city’s) southern suburbs” as raids targeted Burj al-Barajneh, Haret Hreik, and Hadath.<\/p>\n
The NNA reported that another strike in the central “Nweiri area in Beirut destroyed a four-story building housing displaced people”. It killed three people and injured 26, the health ministry said.<\/p>\n
Israeli forces also threatened residents in areas of Lebanon\u2019s Tyre and Sidon, saying they would attack there in the \u201cnear future\u201d.<\/p>\n
Pro-resistance Lebanese lawmaker Amin Sherri told reporters Tuesday that Israel wanted to take revenge on the Lebanese people, particularly the group’s supporters, before a possible ceasefire.<\/p>\n
“The Israeli enemy… seeks revenge on supporters of the resistance and all Lebanese,” Sherri told reporters at the site of a deadly Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital.<\/p>\n
The escalation in attacks comes as officials said they were optimistic a ceasefire deal was within reach.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said efforts to secure a ceasefire in Lebanon were \u201cin the final stages.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not there yet, but I believe we are in the final stages,\u201d Blinken told reporters after a meeting with G7 foreign ministers in Italy.<\/p>\n
He said that a ceasefire in Lebanon can potentially help end the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Meantime, Israel’s security cabinet on Tuesday afternoon discussed a ceasefire plan proposed by the United States and France, who have led the efforts to broker a ceasefire.<\/p>\n
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday that talks had reached a “point where we’re close.”<\/p>\n
G7 foreign ministers called Tuesday for an “immediate ceasefire” in Lebanon, saying, “Now is the time to conclude a diplomatic settlement.”<\/p>\n
The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Israel had “no more excuses” to refuse a deal. And the American news outlet Axios reported that the draft agreement included a 60-day transition period.<\/p>\n
During the said time, Israeli forces would withdraw, the Lebanese army would redeploy near the border and Hezbollah would move its heavy weapons north of the Litani River, Axios said.<\/p>\n
A US-led committee would oversee implementation, with provisions allowing Israel to act against imminent threats if Lebanese forces failed to intervene.<\/p>\n
Israeli media have reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will likely endorse the US’s\u00a0ceasefire proposal.<\/p>\n
The war in Lebanon followed nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire betweeny israeli forces and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of the resistance in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Lebanon says nearly 3,800 people have been killed in the country since October 2023, most of them in the past several weeks.<\/p>\n
The initial exchanges forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n