By Humeyra Pamuk and Maayan Lubell
TEL AVIV/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Israel’s response to Iran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage should not lead to greater escalation, as he pushed for a Gaza ceasefire and an end to fighting in Lebanon.
In Lebanon, Israel’s military said it had killed three Hezbollah commanders and some 70 fighters in the south in the past 48 hours, a day after confirming it had killed Hashem Safieddine, the militant group’s heir apparent leader. Israel ordered more Lebanese to flee Tyre, a major port city.
Blinken is making his first big push for ceasefires in Gaza and Lebanon since Israel killed the leader of Hamas last week – and his last before a presidential election that could upend U.S. policy in the region.
The U.S. secretary of state, who held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the first stop of a regional tour, said it was time for Israel to capitalise on its military victories.
“Now is the time to turn those successes into an enduring strategic success,” he told reporters as he prepared to leave for Saudi Arabia on the next stage of his regional tour. “The focus needs to be on getting the hostages home, ending this war and having a clear plan for what follows.”
In the year since fighters rampaged through Israeli towns killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, Israel has laid the Gaza Strip to waste in root out Hamas, killing nearly 43,000 Palestinians.
Last week Israel killed the Palestinian militant group’s leader Yahya Sinwar, suspected mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.
Over the past month it has also dramatically ramped up war in Lebanon against Hezbollah, a separate Iran-backed militant group that had rocketed Israel in support of the Palestinians. Israel has launched a ground offensive and killed most of Hezbollah’s leadership in air strikes that have displaced 1.2 million people.
Israel has also vowed to retaliate against Iran for an Oct. 1 missile attack, launched in support of Hamas and Hezbollah. The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel’s response, concerned that it could trigger further escalatory retaliation, or hit oil sites and drive up global crude prices.
CHANCE FOR PEACE?
Washington views the death of Sinwar as a chance to push for peace, as it would now be easier for Netanyahu to argue that major goals have been achieved in Gaza.
Blinken said new formulations were being examined in an effort to win freedom for hostages held in Gaza and bring an end to the war.
Still, there has been no sign of a letup in fighting. Hamas says it will not free scores of hostages it is still holding without an Israeli promise to end the war in Gaza. Israel says it will not stop fighting in Gaza until Hamas is annihilated, and in Lebanon until Hezbollah no longer poses a threat.
Diplomats say Israel is pressing its military advantage to lock in a strong position before a new U.S. administration takes office following the Nov. 5 election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Israel’s military said its forces in southern Lebanon were continuing to conduct “limited, localised, targeted raids against Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure and operatives.”
“Over the past day, the troops eliminated approximately 70 terrorists in ground and aerial strikes,” it said.
Israel expanded its evacuation warnings to several central neighbourhoods in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Wednesday, ordering people to evacuate north out of the city.
Israel’s offensive has driven at least 1.2 million Lebanese from their homes and killed 2,530 people, including at least 63 over the past 24 hours, the Lebanese government said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the military said it had confirmed the killing Safieddine, heir apparent to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah who was killed in an Israeli attack last month. The military said Safieddine was killed in a strike three weeks ago in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Israel had earlier said he had probably been killed but had stopped short of confirming it.
There was no immediate response from Hezbollah.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Laila Bassam, Maya Gebeily and Amina Ismail in Beirut, Clauda Tanios and Nayera Abdullah in Dubai, Maayan Lubell and Jonathan Saul in Jerusalem, Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis in Washington, Thomas Escritt in Berlin; Writing by Michael Perry and Michael Georgy; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Peter Graff)
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