Israeli strikes batter Lebanon, killing five medics
Israeli strikes
battered southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday,
killing at least five medics, as ground troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters
in the south.
Israel has pushed on
with its intense military campaign against the Iran-backed armed group
Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a U.S. envoy could lead to an
imminent ceasefire.
U.S. mediator Amos
Hochstein said earlier this week in Beirut that a truce was "within our
grasp". He travelled on to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and Defence Minister Israel Katz before returning to Washington, according to
the news outlet Axios.
His trip aimed to end
more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah along Lebanon's
southern border, which escalated dramatically when Israel ramped up its strikes
in late September and sent ground troops into Lebanon on Oct. 1.
Israeli troops have
fought Hezbollah in a strip of towns all along the border and this week pushed
deeper to the edges of Khiyam, a town some six km (four miles) from the border.
Hezbollah said it had
fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at least four times on Friday.
Lebanese security sources told Reuters that Israeli troops had also advanced in
a string of villages to the west as well. They said Israel was most likely
trying to isolate Khiyam ahead of a major attack on the town.
Israeli strikes on two
other villages in southern Lebanon killed a total of five medics from a rescue
force affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese health ministry said.
The more than 3,500
people killed by Israeli strikes over the last year include more than 200
medics, the health ministry said.
Israel says its aim is
to secure the return home of tens of thousands of people evacuated from
Israel's north due to rocket attacks by Hezbollah, which began firing across
the border in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
Israel also mounted
more strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a once densely populated stronghold
of Hezbollah.
It issued evacuation
orders on the social media platform X for several buildings in the area on
Friday. Reuters footage showed one of the strikes appearing to pierce the
centre of a multi-storey building, sending the whole structure toppling in a
massive cloud of smoke.
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