A ceasefire was declared. But for Lebanon, the bombs kept falling.
Israel’s strikes on Lebanon continued on Wednesday as Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed the two-week Iran-US ceasefire deal does not cover Lebanon.
Fresh evacuation orders were issued for areas deep inside Lebanese territory as the Israeli military declared the battle there “ongoing.”
I continued on Wednesday as Prime Minister Netanyahu confirmed the two-week Iran-US ceasefire deal does not cover Lebanon.
Netanyahu: Lebanon Is Not Part of the Ceasefire
The exclusion of Lebanon has drawn sharp international pushback. Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif, a key mediator, said the ceasefire applied “everywhere including Lebanon.”
French President Emmanuel Macron echoed that position, urging that it “fully includes Lebanon.”
A Lebanese official told AFP that Beirut had simply not been informed of any exclusion.
Hezbollah, whose attack on Israel on March 2 drew Lebanon into the conflict, had not claimed any operations since 1:00 a.m. Wednesday, making Israel’s continued strikes a source of acute controversy.
Over 1,500 Killed, One Million Displaced
Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks in recent weeks have killed more than 1,500 people and displaced over one million people concentrated in the south, east, and Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Lebanon’s military has warned displaced residents not to return south, citing ongoing Israeli strikes.
An AFP correspondent on the ground saw some families beginning to head south on foot, by car, and on motorcycles unaware of what awaited them.
Shortly before the ceasefire announcement, an Israeli strike on the southern city of Sidon killed eight people.
