- Israel has paused airstrikes on Lebanon amid Iran's threat to quit peace talks with the US
- US President Trump urged Netanyahu to scale back attacks to preserve a fragile ceasefire with Iran
- Israel agreed to hold direct talks with Lebanon focused on disarming Hezbollah
Israel appears to have reduced the barrage of airstrikes on Lebanon amid the Iranian threat to abandon the Pakistan-mediated peace talks with the United States. The development comes after reports claimed that US President Donald Trump has personally urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scale back attacks on Lebanon, as Washington tries to hold together a fragile ceasefire with Iran ahead of high-stakes talks.
Israel has also agreed to hold direct talks with Lebanon, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordering his ministers to seek dialogue with Beirut, focused on disarming Iran-backed Hezbollah. But a Lebanese government official told news agency AFP that Beirut required a truce before entering any negotiations with Israel.
The Israelis carried out several airstrikes as well as artillery shelling in southern Lebanon, but there's been a marked reduction in the level of violence. Hezbollah also continues to fire rockets across the border and target Israeli troops inside Lebanese territory.
NDTV's Nazir Masoodi, who is present on the ground zero, reported that there have been no air strikes on Beirut on Friday, even after Israel issued an urgent evacuation warning in several parts of the capital city.
The US Intervention
Israel's heaviest strikes on Lebanon since Hezbollah entered the Middle East war in early March killed over 300 people on Wednesday and rattled the uneasy truce between Washington and Tehran less than 48 hours after it came into force. While Israel claimed most of those targeted were Hezbollah operatives, footage from the ground shows civilians, including women and children, among the casualties.
Iranian officials said Israel's strikes had rendered the Pakistan talks "meaningless" and that Lebanon was an "inseparable part of the ceasefire". The claim was denied by Trump and the Israeli PM, who said Lebanon was not part of the deal.
However, the US soon intervened, with Trump telling NBC News, "I spoke with Bibi [Netanyahu], and he's going to low-key it. I just think we have to be sort of a little more low-key."
Later, a US official told AFP, "We can confirm that the Department will host a meeting next week to discuss ongoing ceasefire negotiations with Israel and Lebanon."
Neither Israel nor Lebanon has publicly confirmed the US talks for next week so far.
Situation in Lebanon
The ongoing war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is not a one-off conflict. The two have an enmity that goes back more than four decades, with outbursts of fighting blanketed by periods of tense calm.
On Thursday, Hezbollah said it was engaged in close-quarters combat against Israeli forces on the ground in southern Lebanon, a day after Lebanese authorities said Israeli strikes killed at least 303 people and wounded 1,150.
Israel's Army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who visited ground troops inside Lebanon on Thursday, told them Hezbollah had suffered a "heavy blow" from the strikes a day earlier.
