BEIRUT: Israeli strikes battered southern Lebanon and the outskirts of the capital Beirut on Friday (Nov 22), killing at the very least 5 medics, as floor troops clashed with Hezbollah fighters within the south.
Israel has pushed on with its intense army marketing campaign towards the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, tempering hopes that efforts by a US envoy might result in an imminent ceasefire.
US mediator Amos Hochstein mentioned earlier this week in Beirut {that a} truce was “inside our grasp”. He travelled on to fulfill Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz earlier than returning to Washington, based on the information outlet Axios.
His journey aimed to finish greater than a yr of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah alongside Lebanon’s southern border, which escalated dramatically when Israel ramped up its strikes in late September and despatched floor troops into Lebanon on Oct 1.
Israeli troops have fought Hezbollah in a strip of cities all alongside the border and this week pushed deeper to the sides of Khiyam, a city some 6km from the border.
Hezbollah mentioned it had fired rockets at Israeli troops east of Khiyam at the very least 4 occasions on Friday. Lebanese safety sources advised Reuters that Israeli troops had additionally superior in a string of villages to the west as nicely. They mentioned Israel was almost certainly making an attempt to isolate Khiyam forward of a serious assault in town.
