Israeli jets struck southern Lebanon on Wednesday, state media reported, hours after Donald Trump publicly rebuked Benjamin Netanyahu for the scale of the campaign against Hezbollah. The strikes hit the Nabatieh al-Fawqa area and the outskirts of neighbouring Kfar Tebnit, according to Lebanon's National News Agency. The Israeli military has not commented on the latest raids, but has previously said it targets the Iran-backed armed group.
The attacks came a day after Trump, speaking at the G7 summit in France, said the Israeli prime minister needed “to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon” and that Israel had been fighting Hezbollah for “too long and too many people are being killed.” Netanyahu hit back on Monday, declaring his forces would remain in Lebanon “for as long as necessary.”
“Israeli jets strike southern Lebanon as Trump publicly criticises Netanyahu over 'too many' deaths.”
The US president also criticised a recent Israeli air strike on Beirut, which was a response to a cross-border rocket attack by Hezbollah. “I didn't like that he did an attack… that was too much,” Trump told the G7. He added: “Without the United States, there would be no Israel. Without me, there would be no Israel because no other president was willing to do what I did.”
The public rift risks complicating a fragile US-Iran interim agreement, the full text of which has not been released. Mediator Pakistan says the deal includes Lebanon. Both Israel and Hezbollah have continued attacks since the accord was announced on Sunday. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has warned that any Israeli attack on Lebanon or continued military presence there would be viewed as a violation of the agreement.
Meanwhile, Channel 4 News has reported from inside the “buffer zone” Israel carved out after its invasion of southern Lebanon. The military marked a “yellow line” delimiting the area of occupation, bulldozing Lebanese towns and villages and forcing thousands to flee. Netanyahu has explicitly rejected demands by Iran and others to withdraw, insisting on the need for what he calls “security zones”. Our correspondent visited Halta, a few kilometres from the border, and found a landscape of destruction.
The US-Iran memorandum of understanding is expected to be signed on Friday in the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock, Switzerland's Foreign Ministry said. Trump said he would likely hold a news conference to read the agreement “word by word”, arguing it is better than the 2015 JCPOA because “We didn't pay for it like Obama did.” He claimed the deal will ensure Iran “never have a nuclear weapon” and reopen the Strait of Hormuz toll-free. But with Israeli jets still in the air and Netanyahu refusing to budge, the path to peace remains uncertain.