Netanyahu Orders Strikes on Beirut’s Dahiyeh Amid Ceasefire

By Staff, Agencies

"Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized military strikes on Beirut’s Dahiyeh district, even as a ceasefire remains in place.

Netanyahu ordered the attacks on Monday, saying they were a response to what he claimed to be Hezbollah's "repeated violations" of the truce.

According to the "Israeli" PM, he and the minister for war affairs, Yisrael Katz, had instructed the "Israeli" occupation forces [IOF] to strike "targets" in the area.

Reporting on the developments that followed the announcement, it was said that traffic was heavy on the roads leading out of Dahiyeh, while security forces worked to ease congestion and manage the situation.

The truce took effect on April 17 and was later extended through early July.

According to the Lebanese health ministry, however, "Israeli" attacks across Lebanon during the period leading up to and following the implementation of the ceasefire have claimed more than 3,400 people.

On Friday, trilateral military talks involving Lebanon, the "Israeli" occupation, and the United States concluded at the US Department of War without reaching an agreement.

The negotiations, which lasted for more than nine hours, failed to produce a breakthrough on Lebanon's demand for an immediate halt to hostilities.

According to an official Lebanese source, the Lebanese military delegation pressed for a comprehensive ceasefire agreement during the discussions.

The source said the "Israeli" delegation, however, repeatedly rejected that demand and refused withdrawal from the territories it occupies in Lebanon. The “Israeli” delegation also maintained its call for the "dismantling of Hezbollah" as part of any prospective arrangement.

Following the meeting, the Department of War also said the US emphasizes that Lebanon should remain "free" of what it called "non-state armed groups," ignoring Hezbollah's historical contribution to Lebanon's defense and its entrenchment within the country's political establishment.

Ahead of the meeting, Hezbollah's Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem had called for indirect rather than direct negotiations with the "Israeli" occupation entity.

"We call for the option of indirect negotiations, where the cards of power are in the Lebanese negotiator’s hand, and for withdrawal from direct negotiations, which constitute pure profits for 'Israel' and gratuitous concessions from the Lebanese authority," he had said. Sheikh Qassem had also rejected any discussion of Hezbollah's weapons in talks with the "Israeli" enemy.

The "Israeli" occupation's insistence on keeping up deadly aggression against Lebanon comes despite Iran's call for urgent cessation of aggression on all fronts in the region as part of a potential memorandum of understanding between the Islamic Republic and the US.

The MoU is expected to end the cycle arising from the unprovoked aggression that the US and the "Israeli" entity began jointly waging against the Islamic Republic and other parts of the region on February 28.

US President Donald Trump announced a unilateral ceasefire on April 7, but neither Washington nor "Tel Aviv" has meaningfully committed to its respective commitments.