Anger in Lebanon as Israel launches deadly strikes despite diplomatic drive

Israel has launched more deadly strikes on towns across southern Lebanon, pressing on with its invasion despite a diplomatic push in Washington for direct talks between the two countries.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported at least 20 people killed in Wednesday’s attacks, just one day after a sit-down between Lebanese and Israeli envoys to the United States.

Four of those killed were a couple, their son and their daughter-in-law, who were in their family home in Jbaa, according to NNA. Four others were paramedics who were killed in a “triple-tap” strike while on an emergency mission to rescue wounded people in Mayfadoun, NNA said.

In parallel, Israel launched more strikes south of Beirut, hitting two vehicles – one in the seafront town of Saadiyat and another on a coastal highway in neighbouring Jiyeh, about 20km (12 miles) south of the capital.

Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr said: “There is anger here. People believe the Lebanese government should not have sat down with Israel, the enemy, which has already killed more than 2,000 people in the past few weeks alone.

“What people want here is an end to the attacks,” she said, noting that the neighbourhoods had been “repeatedly targeted in Israeli strikes in recent weeks.”

Residents, she added, were asking why the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and the armed group Hezbollah, which the former repeatedly breached with near-daily violations, had not been implemented.

Hezbollah lawmaker slams Beirut’s ‘concessions’

The meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli envoys was hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, marking the first direct diplomatic contact in decades between the two countries.

Both sides said the talks were positive, though ahead of the meeting, Israel had ruled out any discussion of Lebanon’s demand for a ceasefire in the latest war, which erupted on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire in retaliation for the US-Israeli killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

As Israel doubled down on its offensive against the armed group, issuing another forced displacement order to residents in the south, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah said the “option of negotiations with the enemy is wrong”.

Speaking at a news conference, he accused the Lebanese government of “squandering Lebanon’s political and military strength”, criticising it for withdrawing its army from the south and “leaving it vulnerable to occupation and giving the enemy free rein”.

“The current government has not lived up to the people’s expectations and has failed to grasp the resistance of the young fighters,” he said, slamming Beirut for its “concessions” and for “inciting internal division” in the country.

He added that the Iran-aligned group wants a comprehensive ceasefire, not a return to near-daily Israeli strikes and assassinations as seen after the November 2024 ceasefire deal.

Israel threatens to ‘overwhelm’ Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli military had issued an evacuation order to residents in the south. NNA said attacks also hit the southern towns of Baraachit, Souaneh, Babliyeh, Seddiqine, Nabatieh El Faouqa and areas along the Litani River.

The outskirts of the town of Bint Jbeil, which has been hit especially hard by a recent Israeli operation that claimed to have killed at least 100 Hezbollah fighters, were also struck by shelling, said NNA.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a video address published late Wednesday, said Israeli forces were about to “overwhelm” Bint Jbeil and would continue strikes on Hezbollah. He also said the Israeli military would bolster what he called a “security zone” in Lebanon’s south where Israeli forces have invaded, and press further east.

Addressing the latest talks with Lebanon, Netanyahu said the primary goal was to “dismantle” Hezbollah. “There are two central objectives: first, the dismantling of Hezbollah; second, a sustainable peace… achieved through strength,” he said.