Israel strikes Lebanon and Syria with airstrikes

2024-11-16 09:40:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Israel hit several parts of Lebanon and Syria with airstrikes today. Attacks in the suburbs of Beirut, which are controlled by Hezbollah, and in the city of Baalbek, in eastern Lebanon, killed at least 13 people. Meanwhile, according to Syrian media, Israeli attacks also hit neighborhoods on the outskirts of the capital Damascus and areas along the border between Lebanon and Syria. The attacks took place while the adviser to the supreme leader of Iran is staying in Beirut and amid reports that the United States has submitted a draft proposal for a ceasefire to the parties.

Israel hit the outskirts of Beirut with airstrikes on Friday after ordering residents to evacuate. The strikes, first by drone-launched missiles and then by planes, leveled a building near administrative offices in an area Israel said the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah was present.

Rescuers were searching for victims of an overnight Israeli attack on a civil defense center in the eastern city of Baalbek, killing at least 13 center workers and volunteers, according to Lebanese authorities.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of using ambulances and medical centers to transport and store weapons.

According to Syrian media, Israeli strikes also hit the outskirts of Damascus on Friday, while the Israeli army announced it had attacked roads along the border between Syria and Lebanon, which it said were being used to send weapons to Hezbollah. Israel's attacks in Damascus on neighborhoods inhabited by Hezbollah commanders, those of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and leaders of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups caused the death of 15 people. According to Israeli authorities, these attacks targeted military centers and the headquarters of the Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad.

The latest attacks come as there are reports of continued diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire that would end the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

According to sources of the Reuters agency, the ambassador of the United States in Lebanon submitted a draft proposal for a cease-fire to the speaker of the assembly of Lebanon, Nabih Berri, who is supported by Hezbollah to negotiate. This draft proposal is the first in written form in recent weeks that Washington has offered to the parties to end the war between Israel and Hezbollah. The US Embassy in Lebanon did not confirm these developments.

Although the content of the US proposal has not been disclosed, a Lebanese official told The Associated Press that the US draft proposal aims for an agreement based on Security Council resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Adviser to Iran's supreme leader Larijani stayed in Beirut on Friday for meetings with Lebanese officials, from whom he said he had received "appropriate clarifications".

"The Islamic Republic of Iran supports Lebanon and Lebanese officials in any situation and in particular in the current circumstances when the Zionist regime has placed the Lebanese state in a difficult situation," he declared.

Asked if his visit is intended to undermine the American draft proposal, Larijani stated:

"We are not trying to sabotage anything. We are trying to solve problems. We will support the Lebanese people in any circumstances. Netanyahu and his crowd are the ones who are disrupting work," he added.

Iran is the main supporter of Hezbollah and at the same time the supplier and financier of the militant group operating in Lebanon.

According to the World Bank, in the 13 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the cost of physical damage and economic losses in Lebanon has reached 8.5 billion dollars.

According to the Lebanese authorities, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has caused the death of 3,380 people./ VOA