Israel’s bombing of Lebanon after US-Iran ceasefire prompts condemnation

Strikes that killed more than 200 people spark outrage amid global efforts to salvage truce Middle East crisis – live updates Israel’s devastating bombardment of Lebanon in the hours after a US-Iranian ceasefire was announced has been widely condemned amid global efforts to salvage the truce. More than 200 people were killed by Israeli bombing including strikes with heavy munitions on densely populated areas, which drew outrage from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international humanitarian organisations. Continue reading…

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Strikes that killed more than 200 people spark outrage amid global efforts to salvage truce Middle East crisis – live updates Israel’s devastating bombardment of Lebanon in the hours after a US-Iranian ceasefire was announced has been widely condemned amid global efforts to salvage the truce. More than 200 people were killed by Israeli bombing including strikes with heavy munitions on densely populated areas, which drew outrage from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international humanitarian organisations. Continue reading…

Strikes that killed more than 200 people spark outrage amid global efforts to salvage truce

Israel’s devastating bombardment of Lebanon in the hours after a US-Iranian ceasefire was announced has been widely condemned amid global efforts to salvage the truce.

More than 200 people were killed by Israeli bombing including strikes with heavy munitions on densely populated areas, which drew outrage from the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international humanitarian organisations.

Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that Lebanon was not included in the Tuesday night ceasefire agreed by Donald Trump, and vowed the Israeli military would continue to strike Hezbollah targets “wherever necessary”. The Israeli prime minister said Israeli forces had killed the secretary to Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem.

The US vice-president, JD Vance, backed Netanyahu, claiming the US had never agreed to the inclusion of Lebanon in the truce.

“I think this comes from a legitimate misunderstanding,” Vance said. He is expected to lead a US delegation to Pakistan for talks on Saturday to try to salvage the ceasefire and turn it into a more durable peace agreement.

However, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian said that further Israeli strikes on Lebanon would render negotiations “meaningless”. Iran would not abandon the Lebanese people, Pezeshkian promised.

Pakistan, which led the efforts to broker a ceasefire after Trump threatened a civilisation-ending onslaught, has said that Lebanon had been part of the agreement.

“I would trust the Pakistani mediator that Lebanon was included. They put out a statement that it was included and we did not hear any American correct the Pakistani version for many hours,” Robert Malley, a former American envoy who led earlier US-Iranian negotiations, said.

“It looks like a case of the US reneging and giving the Israeli prime minister [permission] to go ahead [with bombing] for another 24 hours before they are ‘restrained’”.

Malley said the best-case scenario for peace talks in Pakistan was that they returned the region to the status quo before the US-Israeli attack on 28 February, with the Hormuz strait open, and options for limiting Iran’s nuclear programme on the table along with some form of financial compensation for Tehran.

Authorities in Islamabad began implementing strict security measures in Islamabad in anticipation of the arrival of delegations for talks, expected to begin on Saturday.

As the future of the ceasefire lo