The Israeli military has confirmed operation in Beirut’s southern suburbs this morning after issuing evacuation orders to residents, in the first such strikes in days targeting the dense urban area.
The strikes followed a renewed but as yet of fruitless bout of U.S.-led diplomacy aimed at getting a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon to stop over a year of fighting between Israel and Iran-backed groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Israel and Lebanon were moving toward understandings on what is required for implementing a long-violated U.N. resolution, 1701, that would be the basis for ending the current conflict.
But time is running thin to get a resolution before U.S. elections on Nov. 5 and Lebanese officials and analysts were pessimistic after reports U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein would not be heading to Beirut from Israel, where he was on Thursday.
