As many as 254 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon in less than 24 hours after the ceasefire with Iran came into effect, officials said. The Israeli Army confirmed that it carried out fresh and the largest coordinated strikes across the country since the renewed war.
Israeli Air Forces carried out strikes on dense commercial and residential areas in central Beirut without warning, killing hundreds of people and wounding more than 1,000 others, hours after a ceasefire between the US and Iran came into being.
Lebanon’s Civil Defence said at least 254 people were killed and 1,165 others were wounded in the attacks on Wednesday.
Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said Lebanon was facing a “dangerous escalation” after Israel launched “more than 100 air strikes” across the country.
Hezbollah warns —
As part of Iran’s ceasefire deal, Hezbollah MP Ibrahim Al Moussawi warned of a response from Iran and its allies if Israel “does not adhere to a ceasefire”. Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance has said that Iran would be stupid to break the ceasefire with Israel over Lebanon. While the mediating nation, Pakistan, is determined that Lebanon be included in the ceasefire talks, Vance and Israel disagree with them.
He said, “If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart – in a conflict where they were getting hammered – over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice.”
“We think that would be dumb, but that’s their choice,” he added.
Before his remarks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday shared Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s statement announcing the ceasefire, while highlighting Lebanon as part of the deal.
“The Iran-US Ceasefire terms are clear and explicit: the US must choose – ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both,” Araghchi wrote.
So far, the Israeli air campaign on Lebanon has killed more than 1,530 people since March 2, including more than 100 women and 130 children, and displaced more than 1.2 million people.
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