Nasrallah announced that he would continue shelling northern Israel. The “resistance in Lebanon” will not stop its attacks on Israel until the “aggression (of Israel) against Gaza” stops, he said in his televised speech. Israel will only be able to allow people to return to safety in the north if the war in the Gaza Strip is stopped. Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Islamist Hamas in the coastal region. Both groups are supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose leadership views Israel as its arch enemy.
However, negotiations to end the Gaza war, in which the US, Egypt and Qatar are mediating between Israel and Hamas, have been going in circles for months. Senior US officials have now admitted in private conversations that they no longer expect an agreement between Israel and Hamas during US President Joe Biden’s term in office, which ends in January, the Wall Street Journal reported. “An agreement is not imminent,” said one of the US officials. “I’m not sure it will ever happen.”
Israel, meanwhile, wants to use military and diplomatic pressure to ensure that the shelling of the north stops and that Hezbollah withdraws behind the Litani River, 30 kilometers from the border – as stipulated in a UN resolution. After that, around 60,000 people who had to flee the region on the border with Lebanon to other parts of the country for safety will be able to return to their homes. Israel’s Defense Minister Joav Galant announced that Israel would continue its attacks on Hezbollah. “The series of our military actions will continue,” he said. “Over time, Hezbollah will pay a growing price.”
The almost daily mutual shelling has developed into a low-level war. According to official figures, around 600 people have already been killed in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah members. In Israel, according to official figures, 48 people were killed in the attacks by the pro-Iranian militia, including soldiers, but also many civilians.
