BEIRUT, (PIC)
Military confrontations in southern Lebanon continue to escalate, with renewed clashes on Thursday in the city of Bint Jbeil between Hezbollah and Israeli occupation forces.
Fighting took place at the city’s entrances and along the stadium and vocational school axes, alongside widespread demolition of homes near the entrance to the main market.
The scope of attacks extended beyond the south, as several people were injured after an Israeli drone targeted a vehicle on the Dahr al-Baidar road, which connects the village of Sofar to the town of Chtaura and serves as a boundary between Mount Lebanon and the Bekaa governorates.
As part of the escalation, the city of Nabatieh was subjected around midday to a series of intense Israeli airstrikes resembling “fire belts,” targeting areas around the industrial zone and near “Al-Tawfeer Supermarket” on Nabih Berri Avenue, in addition to strikes on the towns of Kfarreman, Arnoun, Aba, and Yohmor al-Shaqif.
The National News Agency reported that at least one person was killed after an Israeli drone struck a motorcycle at the Kfarwa junction on the Habboush–Nabatieh highway, while a Syrian man was killed in a similar drone strike targeting a motorcycle in the Qasmiyeh area, which he was driving.
Israeli warplanes also targeted a workshop for Syrian workers near Qasmiyeh, leaving more than 15 people injured. Civil defense teams transported the wounded to hospitals in the city of Tyre.
In the same context, three Syrian workers were injured in a drone strike that targeted an orchard in the al-Wasta area.
Israeli warplanes destroyed the Qasmiyeh bridge in the Tyre district, cutting off the last road linking both sides of the Litani River in the area, amid continued strikes targeting infrastructure.
Earlier in the day, Israeli warplanes carried out a series of strikes targeting the town of Zoutar al-Sharqiya and the outskirts of Arabsalim and Ain Bousouar, as well as the town of Kfarhouna, as part of the ongoing escalation in southern Lebanon.
On the political front, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri discussed developments in Lebanon during a phone call with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
During the call, Ghalibaf stressed that “a ceasefire in Lebanon must come before anything else,” adding that the understanding reached between Tehran and Washington “should include Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump announced that the Lebanese president would hold direct talks on Thursday with the president of Israel for the first time in more than three decades.
At the same time, the Israeli government is reportedly considering a US request for a ceasefire, without reaching a final decision so far. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the army to continue reinforcing what he described as a “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon.
Israeli Cabinet member Gila Gamliel also said that Netanyahu would speak with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun later today, according to Israeli Army Radio. However, an official Lebanese source told Agence France-Presse that Beirut has not yet received any information regarding a planned contact with the Israeli side.
These developments come amid ongoing Israeli escalation since March 2, which has resulted in 2,167 victims and 7,061 injured people, as well as the displacement of more than one million people, according to official figures, alongside continued military operations and the targeting of civilian areas and infrastructure.