BEIRUT, April 8 (Reuters) – Lebanon’s Hezbollah halted fire on northern Israel and on Israeli troops in Lebanon on Wednesday as part of a two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire but a lawmaker from the Iran-aligned group said Israel must also adhere to the truce or it would collapse.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said overnight that the ceasefire suspending the six-week-old U.S.-Israeli war against Iran did not apply to Lebanon, and the Israeli military said it was continuing its operations against Hezbollah there.
“The battle in Lebanon continues, and the ceasefire does not include Lebanon,” Israel’s military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement on X on Wednesday, while reiterating evacuation orders affecting large swaths of southern Lebanon.
Israel’s stance contradicted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a key intermediary in the U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks, who had said the truce would include Lebanon.
The Lebanese state news agency NNA reported continued Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon, including artillery shelling and a dawn air strike on a building near a hospital that killed four people.
An Israeli strike on the southern city of Sidon killed eight people and wounded 22 others, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
Hezbollah stopped attacking Israeli targets early on Wednesday, three Lebanese sources close to the group told Reuters.
The group is likely to issue a statement outlining its formal position on the ceasefire and on Netanyahu’s assertion that Lebanon is not included, the three Lebanese sources said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday the situation in Lebanon remained critical and called for Lebanon to be included in the deal. France maintains close ties with Lebanon, a former protectorate.
‘LEBANON CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE’
Israel has issued evacuation orders covering around 15% of Lebanese territory since March 2, mostly in the south and in suburbs south of the capital Beirut. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon, the authorities say.
“Hopefully a ceasefire will be reached,” said Ahmed Harm, a 54-year-old man displaced from Beirut’s southern suburbs. “Because Lebanon can’t take it anymore. The country is collapsing economically, and everything is collapsing.”
Israel’s military also issued urgent warnings to residents that it planned to attack the southern Lebanese city of Tyre and neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
“If the Israeli enemy does not adhere to a ceasefire, then no party will commit to it, and there will be a response from the region, including Iran,” Lebanese Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Moussawi told local media.
A senior Lebanese official told Reuters that Lebanon had received no guarantees or other information on its inclusion in the two-week ceasefire, and had not been involved in talks.
“We have informed all relevant parties that the Lebanese authorities are the only ones authorized to negotiate on behalf of Lebanon, and that any negotiations with unofficial parties would not be relevant for Lebanon as a state,” the official said.
The official added that Beirut’s assessment was that continued Israeli strikes on Lebanon would not necessarily cause the collapse of the broader regional ceasefire.
Hezbollah’s last public statement on its military activity was posted at 1 a.m. (2200 GMT Tuesday), saying it had targeted Israeli troops inside Lebanon on Tuesday evening.
Reuters reported last month that Iran wanted Lebanon included in any deal it made with the United States.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, welcoming the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, said Beirut would continue its efforts to ensure that Lebanon was included in any lasting regional peace agreement.
More than 1,500 people have been killed in Israel’s air and ground campaign across Lebanon since March 2, including more than 130 children and more than 100 women. By late March, more than 400 Hezbollah fighters had been killed, sources told Reuters. At least 10 Israeli troops have been killed in southern Lebanon in the same period, the Israeli military has said.
Israel has pledged to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River as part of a “security zone” it says is aimed at protecting its own northern residents.
(Reporting by Beirut bureau; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Kevin Liffey and Gareth Jones)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.