Israeli war planes menaced Beirut on Easter Sunday and Monday by flying low over the Lebanese capital, striking its northeastern and southern suburbs and several areas in the south of the country and the Bekaa valley.
At least 39 people were killed, including an official of the right-wing Christian Lebanese Forces and his wife and an off-duty Lebanese soldier and his displaced family, according to preliminary reports from the health ministry.
At least six members of the same family were killed in the village of Kfar Hatta, east of the coastal city of Sidon, triggering the flight to that city of about 3,000 residents who have been sheltered temporarily in crowded displacement centres.
Two strikes also hit near but did not damage a bridge on the highway linking Tyre to Sidon. This remains one of the surviving crossing points over the Litani river which connects the south to the rest of Lebanon. The United States exerted pressure on Israel to refrain from bombing the main Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, Israeli media reported. This crossing is the chief land exit for Lebanese fleeing the country.
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On Sunday, Israel’s military chief Eyal Zamir visited troops in occupied southern Lebanon where he vowed to continue the battle against Hizbullah. “Over 1,000 Hizbullah terrorists have been eliminated, and that number will continue to rise. The damage to Hizbullah will intensify,” he stated.
[ Irish peacekeepers in Lebanon now behind Israeli lines as IDF advances northOpens in new window ]
Meanwhile, the situation continues to deteriorate. While the government supplies four hours of electricity a day, the cost of fuel for generators has doubled, a source in Beirut told The Irish Times. Muggings, robberies and home raids are multiplying. “It’s not safe to go alone to withdraw money from an ATM at a bank, to wear jewellery in public or carry a large handbag.”
The source said families evicted from their villages in the south are desperate, homeless, without money and refused empty flats by householders and landlords. Shia refugees are the chief sufferers as others fear they could have ties to Hizbullah and attract Israeli strikes while the movement continues to fire drones and missiles at Israel.
Since March 2nd, Israeli attacks across Lebanon have killed at least 1,461 people, injured 4,430 others and displaced 1.2 million, reported the health ministry.
Axios said on Sunday that the US, Iran and Egyptian and Pakistani mediators have discussed a 45-day ceasefire as the initial part of a two-phase agreement that could end the US-Israel war against Iran, including on the Lebanese-Israeli front. The deal, dubbed the Islamabad accord, was rejected by Iran. If it had been accepted it could have pre-empted US president Donald Trump’s threat to bomb Iranian civilian infrastructure beginning tomorrow night.
